Radiance, Capture On!
by NepgyaHeart
Summary: "Reveriena sucks," Eryn Winnet decides upon moving to the region with her toxicroak. To fit the status quo, she attends a pokémon ranger school, hiding her dream of being a champion. Between school hijinks, an underground battle club, and rumors of a Master Ball 2.0, Eryn learns the difference between being a trainer and ranger the hard way, overwriting her dream in the process.
1. Reveriena: Where Dreams Don't Come True

The Reveriena region sucks. Like, it's one of the worst regions in the world, tied only with places like Fiore, Almia, and Oblivia. I claim this on this one fact: pokémon battles are all but illegal in these regions.

I hate it.

My dream is to be Sinnoh's next champion. How am I supposed to do that when I'm stuck in a place where a pokémon ranger is called on me whenever I take out my toxicroak's poké ball?

"_This weekend, we expect to see the next migration pattern of vivillon here in the outskirts of Hionit City_-"

I shut the TV off. Seriously, every station on the air in Reveriena is either a news channel or some nature documentary. Peace and love and all that, but it's so boring.

"Come on, Tessa," I say to my toxicroak who started yawning minutes ago. I lead the way to my room and immediately boot up my laptop. Noting the time, I spare no hesitation in clicking on one of my most-visited bookmarks. This video never gets old.

A picture of a man in a snazzy white suit and gloves fills the screen. Tessa jumps into the only chair before the laptop and taps the claws on her knuckles on the table, waiting for me to start. I pull up the ottoman near my bed and use that as my seat. I press play and crank the volume up. The video starts up and pans about a stadium chock full of cheering people.

"_And we will now bear witness to the match we've all been waiting for: Galar's champion of two tourneys in a row Dominic Viktor versus the trainer that has earned the right to challenge him this year, up-and-coming Yulianna Iomi!_"

"_I welcome you and look forward to what you bring to the table today. You've shown breathtaking battle prowess so far, but I'm afraid that's all for naught with this match_." Tessa and I both lean into the screen as Dominic flings his poké ball out first, choosing his dusknoir. Yulianna sends out a runerigus. "_I hope you know that I never hold back. I recall seeing you make it to the quarterfinals last year, correct?_"

"_And Dominic starts off with his ace! What is he up to?_"

The Galar gym challenge is the hypest thing in the world! Had I been born in Galar instead of Sinnoh, I would have taken a jab at it in a heartbeat. Plus, Dominic is my idol. He's everything that I want to be, and his radiance on and off the battlefield made a fan out of me the first televised match of his I caught. Though I admit, during the tournament that I'm watching a rerun of, I actually rooted for Yulianna. She's damn charismatic.

"_Herald, shadow punch_," Dominic says while adjusting his iconic white gloves. His pokémon swings an arm, causing a fist that looks like it's made of pure darkness to home in on his opponent.

Just as the move is about to make contact, my door swings open and my mom calls out, "Eryn, are you sure you have everything packed?"

Immediately, I pause the video. "Yes," I reply while jutting my thumb at two large suitcases. Tessa's breathing becomes harder, signaling that she's bored already. I reach my hand back and catch hers before she presses play.

"Then hurry up and come down. We should leave as early as we can. It's a five hour drive."

"Okay, okaaay…" Standing up, I close my laptop. Tessa groans before jumping out of her chair.

"Let's go," Mom says before leaving my room.

With a sigh, I put my laptop in my bag which I then sling on my shoulder. My suitcases stare at me, jam-packed with clothing and other personal belongings. I pick up the heavier-by-just-an-ounce one with both hands and tap my foot as Tessa walks in front of me. She stops before the other suitcase, then stares me right in the eye. With an expression even more smug than her neutral one, my toxicroak passes me by without picking it up.

"Hey!" I hear loud thudding, probably her skipping down the stairs. If I had a quarter…

Mom's car horn honking drowns out my exasperated cry. Reluctantly, I pick up my other suitcase and hold my breath as I carry it downstairs.

Once I make it to the car, I find Tessa standing by the open passenger door like a chauffeur. "Very nice." She makes a noise like a cross between hissing and laughter and jumps in the car, still not helping me. On my own, I throw my suitcases into the trunk and take my seat.

As soon as I buckle up, I take out my laptop and open it. I catch the reflection of my new school uniform for a second. A form-fitting black shirt with a dark green vest, both stamped with the school's logo above my heart paired with shorts matching the vest over black tights. Nothing too special. I don't really get why I have to wear it today, but whatever.

Suddenly, I don't feel like watching the rest of the match. My fate will be sealed in a few hours once I get to my new school.

"Have you decided how you're going to introduce Tessa?" Mom asks.

My hand slips into my pocket where Tessa's poké ball resides. After remembering what happened last time I released her in front of someone here in Reveriena, I realize I really only have one choice. I take the ball out and pinch it between two fingers.

"Yeah. Maybe you should take her poké ball after all." If I didn't have it on my person, I wouldn't be seen as some weirdo or whatever. "I haven't had to return her for years, right?"

"No, you have to keep it. What if there's a big emergency and you need to? Just in case, keep it in your pocket." The toxicroak in question just drones a deep-pitched croak of boredom. Mom reassures me saying, "You'll be fine."

I sigh while slipping the capsule back. Mom's right, though. I've known Tessa since I was younger and will always watch over her as she does me. Our unironic best friends necklaces say as much. We take responsibility for each other. My partner croaks and tilts her head back as if to fall asleep.

Trying to brush all my worries under some rug, I ask the one question people love hearing on road trips: "Are we there yet?"

**~X~**

An orange filter overtakes the sky as the sun peeks at me from behind the grand building I dread entering. Mom honks the horn and waves goodbye. I wave back and reluctantly drag my suitcases forward.

"You can at least help me." Tessa meets my eyes and snickers. Curse her.

I make it to the building's doorstep before stopping and glaring at the words spelled out above the entryway. _Hionit Ranger School_, it reads.

Scoffing, I walk through the front door Tessa holds open for me. Once inside, I spot the welcome desk and approach the woman manning it. I present the acceptance letter I received last month that I pull out from my bag to try to engage in a wordless exchange. Once the lady hands me a card key and sheet of paper, I say, "Thank you."

Simple enough. I read through the paper which just welcomes me and tells me to settle down in my dorm before going to an entrance ceremony in about an hour in the school garden. It recommends that I go out right now, though. Oh well. On the back of the paper is a map of the campus, which I follow to find my room.

The first three floors of the school are classrooms. The fourth floor is for girls' dorms. The fifth is boys' dorms. Then there's the roof. Each dorm is for two people, meaning I will get a roommate. I can't tell if I'm excited or not for this.

At the opposite end of the building from the entrance is a large set of stairs that branch into two along with an elevator. Without thinking, I drift to the stairs. Once I take the first step, I look at Tessa. She nods before breaking into a full sprint up the stairs. I smile a big one before following her lead. Except that I am still lugging my suitcases. My oh, so heavy suitcases. But I know Tessa won't stop just because of that, so, I yank my arms behind me as I stomp up three steps at a time, making sure my luggage doesn't hit the ground (though they hover dangerously above by an inch the whole time).

I make it halfway to the third floor when I'm able to see Tessa's back. Not giving in, I push myself the hardest I can up to the fourth floor as I hear my toxicroak laughing up a storm. I finish the flight by lunging forth with my right leg, then gently putting my suitcases on the hardwood floor.

So damn tiring. Lurching over, I gasp for air and wipe the sweat that starts forming on my face. Once my lungs stop screaming, I look around and see nothing. Just a bunch of doors with numbered plaques on them. And so I smile, possibly smirk.

A few moments pass before I hear someone coming downstairs. The croaking gives it away. Tessa jumps in front of me and shoots a look of annoyance.

"I win," I say. "You went all the way to the roof, didn't you? Well, I stood on this floor first, so I win."

Tessa sneers and pushes my arm. But no, she lost. That is the only answer. "Oh, are you being a sore loser right now? That was cute when you were a croagunk, but now? Nah. Who told you to get so hot and bothered over this?" She punches me in the ribs, but I don't stop laughing and teasing. "You even got a head start, and I was carrying my stuff. Now how did I win? Hm? Hmm?" I cup a hand around my ear to really salt this wound.

Tessa gives me a punch to the stomach that shuts me up. She then takes the suitcases and walks in front of me. Her croaking becomes quiet and extra throat-y, meaning she's purposely being bratty. I return the punch, though surely not as hard as she did it (not that I could to begin with). Saying no more, we walk side-by-side as I squint at the floor map in my hands. Tessa regularly bumps into my hip with hers, which I reciprocate. Soon enough, we find ourselves before dorm 17. One glance at my card key vanquishes any hesitation I have.

With a simple swipe and no fanfare, the door unlocks. We enter and get greeted by a small room with two beds on either side. A huge vanity with large drawers underneath it sits between the beds. The bed to my right is bare; the one on my left has floral-print bedding all set up, meaning my roommate already picked her side.

Tessa kicks my suitcases to the right and flops down on my apparent bed. Without much else to do, I start unpacking. I open some drawers of the vanity to see how my roommate split things. All the ones on my half of the room are empty. The first drawer I open on her side has a sealed envelope and framed photograph both put face-down in it that I pretend I don't see.

I claim what is mine and go through the motions. In the background, I resume play of the championship match we were watching this morning. Once everything is finished, I check the time.

"We should go now." Tessa forces herself to sit up from my bed. "It's not like I really want to do this either. But come on. Maybe I'll finally make a friend in this region."

My toxicroak shakes her head and stretches. I open the door and wait for her to exit first. As I hold it ajar, I finally notice something strange about this room: a pretty big green tub filled with water at the foot of my roomie's bed. Though as it isn't there for me to judge, necessarily, I turn around, walk out, and close the door behind me.

It isn't hard to make my way to the garden. The place sits behind the school, and bushes of blooming flowers form a border around the huge stretch of land. Not that easy to miss. Especially with a group of hundreds of people congregating there. Large speakers pound out some catchy pop song that gets drowned out by chatter, so it isn't anything too fancy. Though this place seems more like a farm than a garden.

I wander around until I spot an area filled with benches and tables. Tessa sits down first, in the middle of a bench for some ungodly reason, so I take a spot beside her. People around my age don the same uniform as me as they dance and mingle. A few cliques already seem to be formed, though their members' common interests aren't that obvious. A few others have pokémon at their side, none of which seem that aggressive. Cross friendly battles off the list. A lot of students wave around some toy that looks familiar.

Some students are scattered with us in the bench area, though none sit within a ten-foot radius of me. My only guess is Tessa, who has a permanent sneer on her face. Unsure of what to do or how to start small talk, I sit patiently and wait for the ceremony to begin.

Finally, an old man takes the small, slightly-elevated stage at the center of the garden. A microphone sits in his hand like a pencil before he taps it and clears his throat. "A big thanks to everyone who has stuck around. To those just joining us, good evening, and welcome to Hionit Ranger School! I hope you're just as excited as I am right now."

A fair amount of students in the crowd whistle and clap. I choose to focus on the two people standing behind the talking man, one by a box full of what looked like high-tech walkie-talkies and holding a clipboard, the other carrying a video camera on his shoulders.

"Again, I will be your headmaster at this school. I hope we all find success in the coming years!" Applause follows. I join in.

Once the headmaster's speech winds down, he says, "Now for the moment we've all been waiting for. Everyone here has earned the right to become a ranger-in-training. Most of us already received their stylers just earlier."

I roll my eyes at the memories I have of the written entrance exam. It basically just tested to see whether or not you were a sociopath, if you had common sense, and if you loved pokémon. Of course I love pokemon. Though I want to be a trainer, not a ranger!

But that's not a choice I can make in Reveriena.

Okay, maybe the test had more nuance to it than that, but my feelings remain. Either way, I keep listening to the headmaster speak. "So to those just joining us, let us test your mettle. Now for our last challenge. Here on campus, we have a herd of wooloo. These wooloo have two different pens that they stay in. When one is being cleaned, they live in the other. We will be cleaning the pen they currently reside in tonight. And we all know how skittish and shy these little pokémon are, right?"

A chorus of murmurs fills the air. Okay, I'm listening.

"Whenever we try to relocate our wooloo, they always roll up and run away, which causes such a hassle for everyone involved. Several of them also experience extreme stress when we have our yamper round them up. So, we need a better, kinder way of moving them about, wouldn't you say?"

Where the hell was this going?

"This is where you all come in! As we have 50 students left waiting for their turn at today's entrance ceremony, there also happen to be 50 wooloo in our care! And as we are here to become pokémon rangers, I say you all rightfully earn your stylers tonight!"

Apparently this school accepts like 300 students every year. Guess if I came out earlier, I would have seen what the other 250 had to do to earn their stylers. Wow, imagine doing this six times like this poor old man did. Sure is a roundabout way of doing this. Also, why the heck does this school have a flock of 50 wooloo?

My peers burst into cheers and whoops and the like at this revelation. I, on the other hand, deflate and sigh. Right, right, of course… This feels kind of gimmicky. The explanation isn't even clear. And it just sounds like free labor.

"If we would all look to my left." The headmaster points as such. "We can just make out our wooloo friends. And to my right, also a little ways away, is the empty enclosure. With each wooloo we move over, we will have a student come up to capture them and calm them down, then guide them to their new pen one by one. Shall we begin?"

Cue applause. I mindlessly join in.

"The first wooloo has been sent out. First up will be..."

A guy jumps up on stage with the headmaster, where he is given one of the walkie-talkies from the box I noticed earlier. And those are the stylers? All I do is prop my head up with my hand and observe the first guy to see what I'm expected to do. I know it from books I looked through for the entrance exam only.

**~X~**

"Eryn Winnet, please take your mark."

At the instructor's command, I step down from the stage and adjust the grip I have on my walkie-talkie. Oh, I'm sorry, my capture styler. It's so clunky. I'm going to drop it if anyone runs into me. It doesn't even have a wrist strap.

The wooloo I'm supposed to capture is already curled up into a ball, rolling around the grass. This is my first time seeing one in person, but instead of excitement swelling in my throat, I heave a sigh. Under any other circumstance, I would have been smiling my head off. That Milo gym leader from Galar has the best gym challenge, no doubt.

With all eyes on me, I hold my breath and raise my right arm, clutching my styler. No one has failed or fumbled at all in their capture attempts yet; I refuse to be the first. Tessa stands very close to me as she gazes at the little wooloo like he's her opponent. Wasting no time, I muster the strength to say, "Capture on!"

A glowing antenna extends from the styler by my command, then a small compartment beside it opens with the press of a button. Out shoots a disk the size of my palm, shaped like a spinning top. It homes in on the wooloo, leaving behind a trail of some glowing energy that smells like sweet scent and feels like floral healing (which I know because we battled a trainer with a strangely hostile comfey before we left Sinnoh at the airport).

I would much rather be shouting, _Tessa, step up to the plate!_ as I fling her poké ball onto a battlefield.

As soon as the disk passes the wooloo, I whip my arm up then to the left, drawing a circle like everyone else before me had. The capture disk copies my movements along the horizontal axis, enclosing the wooloo in the glowing trail. Once I close the line, the trail dissipates before getting drawn again as the disk moves more.

So riveting…

I try circling faster, like the Wyatt guy that went earlier who received the highest praise so far. The styler makes loops in an almost hypnotic manner. As the wooloo rolls right, I will the capture disk right. The same goes for left, back, front, what have you.

My arm starts to feel like it's going to fall off. But eventually, the wooloo stops rolling around, unfurls, and bleats softly. I take this as my cue to stop and press the big button on my styler, causing the disk to fly back to me, landing in my hand. I walk up to the now-calm pokémon while shoving the disk back into its place. He looks up at me and starts walking once I pet his back.

I guide the little guy to the new pen, hoping Tessa won't do anything to startle him. As we walk off, the instructor says, "A nice job by Eryn. Next to take the stage will be…"

Once the wooloo scampers into the new pen, I close the gate and walk back to my seat. Another person steps up to capture, leaving me to guess what life on campus is going to be like. So far, no one has talked to me. It seems too late to join a group now, so I decide on trying to befriend someone in my class tomorrow, and also my roommate.

The remaining students that still had to go stand in a line by the stage. I count maybe six, seven. The headmaster takes back the microphone from the capture instructor and the burden of calling students up. He says, "Now we have..."

What order are they calling people up by? Certainly not alphabetically, by last or first name. Now bored, I shake the styler in my hand. The display screen lights up when I accidentally touch it, showing my name and the phrase _Rank Unavailable_ with the number zero below it. I can only guess these things are personalized.

The rank thing sticks out to me. Pondering it for a few moments, it turned to minutes that thankfully elapse like nothing. Feedback from the microphone in the headmaster's hands snaps me out of my thoughts. On the field is who seems to be the last person up.

The last student is a girl. She's wearing oddly cute furry blue boots that cut off below her knees, which clash with her uniform and the weather. She also dons a charm bracelet on each wrist that match the earrings peering out from the fringes that don't make the cut in her short ponytail, which reflect the dying sunlight something fierce and blind me whenever she slightly moves her head. She sure has style.

But these things only stand out to me because I avoid looking at what I really ought to be: her capture styler. She clutches it in both hands at her chest and assumes a wide stance with her legs forming a triangle with the ground. It shakes in her tight grip as she grimaces at her wooloo. Does she think she's holding a gun or something? She flaps her mouth open and closed like a magikarp, not saying the two magic words.

I wince for her. Everyone stares at her too, which makes things that much worse. Sure sucks to be shy, especially in her position. I consider whistling to both deflect attention and encourage her, but don't follow through in case it just stresses her out more. I think her name is Julie or something like that.

Strong wind tussles the girl's hair. Her wooloo rolls away from her in the direction he came from. She takes a deep breath, puffing her cheeks for a moment, then calls out in a high-pitched voice, "Capture on!"

Her disk shoots out and surrounds the wooloo. It loops around nice and efficiently, circles drawn much smaller than the ones I drew, though not the smallest ones I've seen today. But as impressive as her capture is, it doesn't change the fact that she's doing it while holding her styler with both hands. So uncool.

Finally, her wooloo stops rolling around and trots up to her. She sighs heartily and walks backwards to the new pen while facing the pokémon, making gestures with her arms for him to follow. At least she can relax now.

"A very nice capture by Julietta." I was close enough with her name. "And with that, we conclude the entrance ceremony. Please eat, socialize, and be merry, but make sure you're all ready for the first day of classes tomorrow. You can check your schedules on your stylers. Let's make the coming year a great one!"

With that, the headmaster and his two assistants take their leave. I reopen my styler menu to see how true his words are. Quickly I find my schedule and memorize the most important things.

Tessa prods me in the ribs and crosses her arms. She then uncrosses them to tug on my vest hood. Agreeing, I say, "Let's hit the hay." I doubt anyone will strike up conversation with me at this point.

We make our way to my dorm without getting lost. The floor is silent except for Tessa's croaking. I open the door and am greeted with darkness; the lights are off and the curtain on the tiny window above my roommate's bed I saw earlier is probably drawn. So it is very likely that my roomie is here already, sleeping. As quiet as I can, I enter and tumble onto my bed.

Tessa follows my exact movements and ends up flopping on top of me. Wheezing yet biting my tongue, I push her off me and struggle to find the small lamp I put on the table I set up beside my bed when I unpacked. To hide my pain, I whisper, "You little…"

Finally, I feel the lamp and turn it on. The first thing I'm greeted with is a lump on my roomie's bed. Her head sticks out from her blanket but is covered with dark hair. Dreading waking her and exhausted beyond belief, I try to find Tessa.

My toxicroak is now behind me. She's lying down, under my blanket with her head taking up more than half of the big pillow. I don't believe her sometimes. "Can you behave just this once?"

The answer I got was her turning to face the wall and ignoring me. Was I the trainer or she? Before I sigh, there is a scratching noise and plastic clacking. "What are you doing?"

I snap my head right. My roommate is sitting up, wiping glasses on her shirt. Once she puts them on and looks my way, I freeze and mentally curse Tessa out. "Sorry…"

"So bright," she mumbles and pulls her hair back. Her voice rings familiar, and once she exposes her sleepy face, I recognize her.

She's that Julietta girl. Is she seriously my roommate?

"I know..."

"Is everything okay?" She yawns and straightens her back.

"That's my toxicroak. Sorry again." Already off to a rollicking good start, aren't we?

"Huh? Oh, then you must be, uh, Eryn, right?" She sits on the edge of her bed.

"Yeah, hey, Julietta, right?" So my most prominent feature is Tessa? Good to know.

"That's me," she sings. What a departure from who I saw when she captured the wooloo.

"Did I wake you?" I hesitate between words.

"No, I, um, no." She could have fooled me. With audible hesitation, she asks, "Wanna talk for a while?"

No reason to decline. I copy Julietta's sitting position except lean back, purposely putting pressure on Tessa. She lazily smacks me. Ignoring that, I say, "Sure. So what class are you in?"

"2-A." I can barely hear her.

How convenient. "Same here."

"Really? That's great." Despite how small it is, her smile is dazzling. Just like her jewelry from earlier.

"Cool, cool." Dead air follows as I scramble to say something, anything else. "You excited for class?"

"Absolutely! I've always wanted to be a pokémon ranger since I was a kid. Now that I have the chance, I definitely going to try my best." Her eyes light up. Good for her. I just smile and nod. "What about you?"

Damn. Either I lie or change the topic. Though, her passion for rangers certainly contradicts her attitude when she captured her wooloo. Trying not to judge, I say, "I can't wait to start class. I just moved to Reveriena a couple months ago and need friends."

"Really? From where?" She weaves her fingers together and kicks her legs in the air. I only then notice the fluffy slippers she's got, as well as the cute nightdress she has for pajamas. She sure dresses loudly for how reserved she seems.

'Si-" Julietta cuts me off again, this time with a yawn. I give a small laugh and say, "Long day, huh?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry," she says through another yawn.

"We can pick this up tomorrow, y'know." I glance back at Tessa.

"You got it. Night…" When I turn back to Julietta, I see she already lied back down. I can tell she's in a fetal position, hugging some lump under her sheet. I assume it's a pillow and turn my lamp off. I swear I hear a splashing noise as I do so, but from where?

I immediately regret my decision as I blindly pat my bed to figure out how I'm going to go about this. Eventually I make it under my blanket and feel Tessa's back against my arm. I don't get a chance to think over today as the sandman whacks me over the head with a hammer.

**~X~**

I wake up lying on the floor, my arm fast asleep, legs hanging onto the bed edge, and back aching like no tomorrow. Tessa is sprawled over the whole of my bed, tucked in nicely and in seemingly deep slumber, her inflating poison sack rising and falling steadily. Damn, this hasn't happened since we got her her own bed back at home. As I try to shake the pins and needles from my limbs, my toxicroak extends her arm and drops my alarm clock on my stomach. So she's awake, huh?

In high alert, I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes. The clock reads 7:24. Class starts at 8. My heart stops for a moment until I realize that I didn't set my alarm to go off today. "Holy shit." The words slip out on their own as I dart up.

"What?" Julietta rises and reaches for her glasses. Awfully calm.

"It's 7:30." I toss my blanket off and try to sort out the best way to go about this.

"Really? Perfect." She stands and opens a drawer of the vanity, pulling out her uniform.

"Perfect? I wouldn't have pegged you as the type."

"What do you mean? Our classroom is just downstairs, and I don't like eating breakfast on school days."

Then it dawns on me: I live in a dorm now. I guess I'm still too used to catching a bus an hour before class starts. Relaxing, I take a breath as Julietta leaves the room, probably to get ready. As soon as she's gone, I turn to Tessa. "Thanks." She usually was the one who woke me up for school back in Sinnoh. Guess old habits die hard after all. I ignore her cocky smile that reads _you owe me for this_ (I shouldn't have thanked her. I never did just for waking me up) and get ready for my first day at Hionit Ranger School.

When everything is said and done, I find myself inside classroom 2-A. There are 20 desks excluding the teacher's crammed in four rows. Several students are already here chatting. Julietta sits at a desk one away from the window in the back. She waves me down and smiles.

I smile back and go to sit in the window seat to her left. But I stop just as I pass the back of her seat. Out of nowhere, a blue bird jumps out and blocks me from going any further. It stares at me and caws. I recognize it to be a cramorant. Stunned from how strange this is, I witness as Julietta flicks the bird's beak lightly and shakes her head no. This stops Tessa from stepping up after cracking her knuckles.

The cramorant retreats to next to Julietta's leg. She says, "Sorry about that. Ophelia doesn't know you yet, so, uh..." She fidgets and struggles to find the words.

I stare at Ophelia and only giggle. "No problem. Is she your partner?"

As soon as Julietta opens her mouth, a man enters the room followed by a ninjask and waves. He takes the front, so I assume he's our teacher. But he looks really young, like maybe a couple years older than all of us in the class.

The man clears his throat. "Hello, everyone. I hope we're all ready for a great year. I'll be your teacher. My name is Damien Spurr. Feel free to address me however you like. I have no issue with that as long as it is respectful. This is my partner Darts." His ninjask flies a lap around the classroom.

No one reacts to him, so he continues. I catch someone raising an eyebrow at the guy. "Why don't we start with introductions? I'm a pretty open guy, so I have a feeling if I tell you about myself now, I'll just repeat myself in the future ten times over. To spare you from that boredom, I won't say anything right now."

I laugh a little. A few other people do too. "Who wants to start us off? From them, why don't we go in a circle and introduce ourselves, counter-clockwise in a spiral? The same as the direction I draw my loops in." That's a new way of going around the room.

Someone raises their hand. From her, I'll be the fourth person to go. So I listen well and wait for my turn. Here's my ranger school debut.

It's my turn in no time at all. I stand up, prompting Tessa to do the same from the stool nearby she took as her own. I smile and wave. "Hey. I'm Eryn Winnet." It came out as stale as I expected. What else to say about myself? "I just moved from Sinnoh to here a couple months back. So far, Reveriena sure is interesting!"

I'm not making any enemies on day one. But, I don't want to lie. So I just decide to put it all on the plate. One interesting fact about me, coming right up. "This here's my partner Tessa. I've known her for a long while, and we share a life goal." I glance at my toxicroak and nod in sync with her as she puts up her dukes. I then look to my peers and brace myself. From my shorts pocket, I pull out her poké ball and flash it for all to see. Already, some people gasp.

"My dream is to become champion of Sinnoh!"

No one says a word, just stare right through me like I gave them the finger, even Mr. Spurr and Julietta.

Especially Julietta.

Regret immediately consumes me. I miss my opportunity to say more.

Mr. Spurr gives a shaky laugh and says, "That's very interesting."

A guy sitting in the front row opens his mouth to say something, his face twisted in a scowl. I stop him and swallow my pride.

I force a smile and say, "Just kidding!" I follow it with a hard laugh. While shaking the poké ball, I add, "This is just a toy."

The air instantly clears and the mood lightens up. Other people laugh with me, even louder than my obnoxious one. Someone says, "Good one. You got me for a second there!"

My hands curl into fists behind my back, digging my overgrown nails into my palms as I keep laughing.

* * *

Author's note: Hello and welcome to my new story! I wanted something to do on the side from my journey fic, and thought this would be fun to do. Let me know what you think.


	2. Those Who Don't Belong

As everyone continues to laugh, I jokingly bow, bangs flopping down covering a grimace. When I rise, I shrug and offer the best smile I can, then take my seat. The laughter continues for a few more seconds. Once the last person stops, a few people clap, drowning out my sigh.

I give a cocky nod and shoot finger guns at no one. The volatile volcano within me needs to become dormant.

Next up is Julietta. She waits for the idle chatter to die down before flinching from her perfect posture. Why do I feel like I've secured the spot of class clown? Though the small talk doesn't completely go away, not until Mr. Spurr says, "Alright, that's enough. Next person up?"

What follows is absolute silence. All eyes fall on Julietta, who grips the bottom of her uniform vest and stands up as stiff as a concrete beam. The whole time, she's chewing her lip and looking down. Once I count ten seconds pass, she opens her mouth, then promptly closes it tight. She does it again, and again, and again.

Her cramorant stands loyally by her side and jitters. I'm not sure if it is my place to say or do anything. Julietta shuts her eyes, face contorting and shoulders narrowing. Finally, she takes a sharp breath and squeaks out, "My name is Julietta."

More silence follows. Someone forces a cough from the front row. My roommate goes back to chewing her lip.

Mr. Spurr throws her a lifeline. "So, Julietta, what do you look forward to most this year? What does being a pokémon ranger mean to you? And who's that little guy next to you?" Had it been anyone else but this seemingly-uber-friendly man saying it, it would have been condescending and demeaning.

But what's with that second question? It's just a job, isn't it?

"I… I look forward to taking steps to become a ranger proper. I've always wanted to be a ranger since I saw this movie when I was younger-" She cuts herself off with a gasp, then flushes red. "I mean, I just love pokémon. If I can help them, I will. And this is my partner Ophelia." With a caress to her pokémon's head, Julietta takes a stiff bow before sitting back down with her head hung.

Nothing I can say or do will probably help her. Instead I slip out a pack of gum from my pocket and offer her a stick while the person on the other side of her introduces themselves. Julietta takes it graciously and takes one chew before folding her arms on her desk and burying her head in them.

People go on and on with their introductions, right until the person sitting in the middle desk of the front row gets his turn. He stands and says two, maybe three sentences before sitting back down. He says it so quietly that I barely register that he's saying anything.

Right before the next guy goes, he stands back up and faces the class. Loud and clear, he says, "I apologize, but I ask everyone here with pokémon to keep them away from me. I do not deal well with close proximity to them. Especially you."

He points straight at me and Tessa. I do a double take and hear Tessa's croak sustain a stable, deep pitch. "I'm sorry?"

"Thank you." With that, he sits back down, leaving me with my jaw dropped. What the fuck is his problem? He's in a stupid _pokémon _ranger school. How the bloody hell is he afraid of touching, no, being next to a pokémon? How does this work? Is he sane?

"We've heard what Grayson has to say. Let's respect his request and get along, alright?" Mr. Spurr mostly looks at me, still dumbstruck with my jaw hanging. "I'm sure we've all got our little ticks. Okay, next up?"

I still can't believe that. What a load of bull. Tessa eyes him like he's prey. Meanwhile Julietta puts a hand on her cramorant's back and strokes it. Everyone's just going to go along with that, no comment? There are like five other people with pokémon at their side.

Finally, the last person introduces themselves. Once they sit, Mr. Spurr taps a stick of chalk on the board and doesn't get one stroke drawn before someone says, "Damien, introduce yourself!"

First name basis immediately? What? I _guess _I suppose he's maybe our age, but still. He's our teacher. Other people murmur in agreement, leaving the man in question to scratch the back of his neck bashfully.

"You guys remember what I said earlier, right?" People nod and still look at him expectantly. Though I spot a couple kind of smirking at him. "Alright, I'll give you a quick rundown of myself."

Julietta folds her hands on her desk and sits patiently, quietly. Our pokémon hold a low conversation behind us that only they can enjoy. At least my toxicroak doesn't immediately jump into a battle stance. Yet.

"Well, I guess the big question on everyone's mind is my age. That's usually it. I turned 20 a couple weeks ago." So young? What's he doing with his life? "I'm definitely younger than most people who are in my position and my ranger rank, but that doesn't stop me from charging ahead."

I catch someone rolling their eyes. What is going on? Do people like him or not? And what is his position?

"Truth be told, I've actually accepted the position of ranger base leader at a base not too far from here." Someone whispers something, causing another to laugh. Am I missing something? "It's always been my dream to lead my very own base, so I'm going to give it my all, for sure. Though it won't be operating until I get the okay from a higher up, so until then, I'm here to stay as your instructor." His voice tapered off a bit.

What is that supposed to mean? Someone explain this to me like I'm a baby. I catch wind of someone whispering, "What a joke."

Mr. Spurr continues. His ninjask flies in a circle above us, prompting everyone to shut up. "People like to call me 'Young Gun Damien' because of my persistence and age. I choose to take it as a compliment." Isn't technically an insult? He clears his throat and shakes his head. "But please don't address me as that. Anyway, that's enough about me. Let's get started, huh?"

Someone taps my shoulder, and it's not Tessa. Julietta holds a slip of paper out at me which I take after leaving her hanging several seconds too long. In small, neat handwriting it says, _What's up_?

Really, I should have been the one asking her that. Her cheeks are still tinged pink. But without wasting any more of her patience, I write _I'm completely lost_ and give it back.

Mr. Spurr says, "Classes usually take turns having the outside field for demonstrations. Our class has Fridays in one of the three main areas all to ourselves. So until then, we'll be having lectures and small demonstrations in this room."

In my peripherals I see Julietta make a face, then scribble furiously before giving me the note back. _Let's talk at lunch_ is written.

All I do is fold the slip and slide it into my pocket. Mr. Spurr says, "Today, I think we should get the dry stuff out of the way. We'll be going over stylers, how they work, their field use…"

Man, why does Reveriena have to be a non-competitive region? Battles are so much cooler than drawing circles in the air at angry pokémon. With my investment in this topic, I take a notebook out and write down whatever Mr. Spurr emphasises while glancing at the clock above the blackboard every other second.

"The point of capturing pokémon with stylers isn't for glory or power or what have you, as pretentious as that sounds. We do it to preserve nature and help…" Preach it, just not at me.

I mean, I get the gist of it, but don't really see the appeal. I guess someone has to do it, and I guess I'm one of them now. The reason I'm even at this school… I don't feel like mulling it over right now.

The lecture drones on for hours until a bell goes off signaling lunchtime. Mr. Spurr went through the oh, so thrilling history and science behind the capture disk and styler the whole time. I would say more, really, about this if I remembered and took diligent notes. Which I did neither of. Because honestly, I don't really care that much. So sue me for not being valedictorian material.

I shut my notebook as someone stands oddly close to me. Again, it's not Tessa but Julietta. She twists her hands over her stomach as she flaps her lips like she's trying to say something. I stand and offer a smile. "What's up?"

"Um, I… Wanna get lunch together?" She stutters several times.

I mean, I thought that's what she meant in the note, so I say, "Sure."

Julietta stiffly turns around and walks slowly ahead. Ophelia follows her, then me and a begrudging Tessa. Since I didn't bring the school map I got yesterday today (and I certainly didn't memorize any of it), I just trail behind and soak the whole school in, trying to find some glimmer of hope in this place.

A bunch of people clog up the hall by the stairs. I believe the cafeteria is in the basement level. Mindlessly, I walk ahead and weave through the crowd until I finish one flight of stairs, only stopping when Tessa grabs the back of my vest.

And only then do I realize that I'm not following Julietta anymore. Where the heck did she go? The staircase has a couple of students chatting, none of them her, so I go back out to the second floor and look around. Past heads of my peers, I manage to spot a ponytail tied with a blue ribbon bouncing about. Julietta keeps her head almost straight down and tries to walk around the other people, but keeps stopping whenever anyone steps closer to her.

But she doesn't just stop. She actually flinches pretty badly before walking to the other side of the hallway and trying to make it to (presumably) the stairs. I'm not sure what her deal is, but I feel pretty bad knowing that I unintentionally ditched her and left her to have whatever little anxiety moment she's having right now. So I make my way to her as quickly as I can and gently grab her elbow. "Let's go," I say nicer than usual and try to be her guide.

Julietta smiles and visibly relaxes. "Okay."

Together we make our way to the cafeteria, which is packed with other students. After getting our lunches, Julietta suggests we go back to the classroom to eat. I don't feel too strongly one way or the other, so I follow her back to room 2-A.

Once we settle down, I don't even unwrap my sandwich before I feel a gaze piercing through me. It's Julietta, of course, who sits opposite me after turning the chair in front of me around so we share my desk as a table. "Can I help you?" I ask in jest.

She hesitates before twiddling her thumbs. I've never actually met a person as nervous and shy as her. Makes me feel kind of worried that I'll offend or hurt her without meaning to.

"Well, about what you said earlier… Were you really joking about wanting to be a champion?"

The look on her face says it all. Eyes squinted due to how she's puckering her lips, which are trembling constantly. Cheeks flush red from either embarrassment, anger (question mark?), or both. Eyebrows knit, reminiscent of the times my mom was disappointed in me for being "reckless" and "socially tone deaf" as she's put it a couple times before.

Yeah, I must have offended and hurt her without meaning to.

"Why? Is something up?" Now it's my turn to hesitate.

"Oh, no!" she says all too quickly, waving a hand left and right. "I mean, you don't really hear talk about trainers and all that here in Reveriena… But you're from Sinnoh, right? So I guess that kinda… yeah." She says the last part just above a whisper.

"No, no, it really was just a joke! Man, guess I gotta work on my delivery next time, huh?" Good thing I'm a good liar. But I don't know which hurts more, lying to Julietta or lying to myself. Actually, I think the answer is clear. "Sorry if it was in bad taste or something."

"Of course not. I'm sorry."

Damn. It seems that every conversation we've had so far has one or both of us apologizing profusely. I want to be her friend, not her bully. "Uh, what about you? You from out of town or…?"

Julietta looks taken aback. At what, that I asked her a personal question? Come off it, did I offend her again? With hesitation I'm already used to, she responds with, "I'm staying in the dorms because I'm from a different region too."

"You mean you came out here, alone, just to come to _this_ school?" How boring must her home region be? "Like, just to be a ranger? Not anything else?"

"Mm," she hums in affirmation.

"Okay then, tell me about Ophelia." Anything to get away from this topic. I refuse to believe she finds ranger-ing fun.

"She's my partner." Julietta says nothing else and begins eating her lunch. The flow of this conversation is drier than anything I've ever experienced before. Neither of us are brilliant conversationalists of any sort.

Her answer is nowhere near what I want to hear, but I don't dig into her any further; she's not pestering me about Tessa. Speaking of, our two pokémon are eating at Julietta's desk. I'm amazed my toxicroak hasn't picked a fight with anyone yet.

Since the conversation ended way too long ago, we just eat together in only slightly-awkward silence until class starts up again.

**~X~**

"Alright, before we let out for today, I have one last announcement to make," Mr. Spurr-I guess it's okay to call him Damien, but that feels too weird for me-says over people pushing in chairs and packing up. "As per school policy, it is mandatory that everyone joins an extracurricular club. I've just got word that starting today, there will be a club fair held after classes for the rest of the week to help decide on which club you want to join. I recommend checking it out as soon as possible. Have fun while you're here, okay?"

No one really responds, but Mr. Spurr smiles and holds a hand up. "I'm heading the Ranger Apprenticeship Club. Like it sounds, we'll hone our skills beyond what we do in the classroom and get a jump start on experiencing the ranger career. I hope some of you will consider joining."

With that, he takes his leave. A few other students exit the classroom too. Since I don't have any plans for today (especially since I don't really care for exploring Hionit City despite it being where I'm living right now), I hover around Julietta until she's ready to go. "Wanna hang out?" I ask awkwardly.

She nods her head vigorously. "Absolutely."

I lean on my desk and cross my arms as I think. I have no idea what to do for fun around here. I don't even think there is anything fun around here. Maybe Julietta knows something I don't. "Any ideas?"

"Um…" she hums, visibly struggling to come up with something.

As she tries to formulate an answer, I glance around the classroom. It's more or less empty with only a handful of students still here. Of them, I notice that Grayson guy sitting at his desk, reading a book. I'm pretty sure there's a library in this school for that, but that's not even the issue. He needs to get his head checked. There's a lot wrong with him, I can tell.

But as tempted as I am to tell Tessa to go up to him, Julietta brings me out of my sadistic thoughts by shuffling in place and letting out a whine she probably doesn't know she's making. "We can explore campus?"

Not what I expected. Hopefully I didn't sigh in front of her. But I guess that's not the worst idea there ever was. Maybe we can check out the wooloo the school has. "Sure, let's go."

I let Julietta lead the way. Ophelia sticks close to her partner's legs, so I end up following the cramorant. Tessa begrudgingly trails me. Just as I leave the classroom behind, I look back at Grayson. He's glaring at someone's deerling that stands like three yards from him. What an asshole.

The hallways are pretty empty now that classes have ended. Only a few people loiter around. Julietta leads the way to the stairs. She says something, probably our destination, but says it so low that I don't catch anything at all. It seems we're going upstairs.

After we clear one flight, I take a long look outside a conveniently-placed window. From it, I spy the garden area behind the school. Like how it was last night, a huge amount of people litter the grounds. The only difference is that there are a bunch of booths and signs set up with crowds of students huddled around teachers this time.

My thoughts don't linger on it for too long as Julietta waits patiently for me at the top of the next flight of stairs. I only notice this because Tessa whacks me on the back to get my attention. Rather harshly, if I can add. Yeah, and she has manners befitting royalty. Not.

"Sorry." I dash to catch up. Julietta says nothing, just politely smiles and nods. She's probably holding back an insult or complaint meant for me. If I were in her shoes, I totally would feel that way. I need to stop doing things like this since she's definitely not the type to say when things bother her.

We make it to the fourth floor, then our dorm. With no clue as to why but not wanting to upset my roommate any more than I probably have today, I continue to follow Julietta's flow. Once inside our room, I flop down on my bed and close my eyes for a few seconds. Luckily for me, Tessa doesn't use me as a second mattress like she did yesterday.

At the sound of splashing like the one I heard last night, I sit up and look around. Julietta's squatting at the foot of her bed, whatever she's doing obscured by Ophelia. I can only go so long without saying something, but before I even open my mouth, Julietta yelps.

Next thing I know, she's wrestling her cramorant's beak open. "Spit out, now," I catch her whisper. "I thought-"

"Uh, everything alright over there?" I can't help but ask. Is she hiding something that I'll regret finding out? Please no.

"Oh, yes, absolutely." This is followed by Ophelia coughing something up. Julietta pokes her head up and gives a sheepish smile while blushing like mad. One familiar zapping noise that I can't quite place a name on right now later, my roomie stands up and shoves her hands in her pockets. "I'm sorry about that. Let's go now."

"Where to?" I say slowly. No, no, pretend that didn't happen. That's probably what's best, for both our sakes.

"How about… the garden?"

"What's there?"

"Well…" She wrings her hands together and bites her lip. "We'll find out when we get there?"

I give an amused laugh and cave in. Maybe she wants to check out the wooloo too. "Sure. I actually saw a bunch of people there a few minutes ago. I guess it's that club fair thing, yeah?"

Julietta perks up and drops her hands to her side. Oh, was that what she wanted to do? She could have just said so. "Is it?" She's not a very good actress. "Well, why don't we check it out?"

Playing along, I say, "I've gotta join a club anyway, right? Why not."

With no trouble at all, we make it to the garden. The summer-not-quite-autumn sun beats down on us and the air is filled with chatter and bleating in the distance. Now I have a good look at the scene before me. A lot of banners sporting club names are everywhere along with teachers boasting about their clubs. In this specialized school, students typically only study here for a year under intensive and hands-on instruction before going out into the world (I do see that being a ranger is an experience-based job), so the student body is nonexistent. What I'm getting at is that it's funny seeing a bunch of adults trying to be hip with the kids to get club members. In particular, I catch a teacher, an older man, riding a skateboard.

Julietta drifts through the area, carefully avoiding places with heavy clusters of people. This results in her skirting the edge of the paved road while whipping her head left and right. Whatever her issue is, I try not to judge and make sure to walk alongside her. "A lot of choices, huh?"

"Yeah." She hugs herself as she walks. Whether she's mesmerized by the clubs or anxious being around other people, I can't tell

"Anything on mind? Light Music Club? Literature Club? A community service club?" All of those seem plausible for her. I'm actually impressed that there are clubs that don't relate to being a ranger.

"Not really…" As she says this, she looks ahead, to the right. I follow her line of sight and see three clubs she can possibly be thinking about. What stands out to me is the club with three wooloo advertising it.

"Hey, let's check that one out." I gently pull her arm and point at the Gardening Club's setup. A large number of people are already there, following a woman giving a small tour of the area. Julietta and I join in and listen to the instructor.

"Every year we have the Gardening Club plant a new row of flowers in the field that we don't have yet, representative of the new graduating class." And she loses me immediately. The teacher drones on as I shift my attention to Tessa, who's holding her head in her stubby hands in sheer boredom. Her and me both.

"This is gonna be a long year, huh?" I nudge Julietta lightly. She flinches and just nods like she has a knife to her back. Oh boy. Tessa punches my side and I kind of kick her foot. She's not the only one bummed about our situation, okay?

"And we can't forget about the wooloo! The Gardening Club is also in charge of taking care of our resident flock regularly, so if you're already smitten by them, this club's for you." The teacher wins me back just as fast. Tessa groans loudly, probably at the pokémon she can look at but not battle. Though I doubt she even wants to battle any of the wooloo; they probably serve no challenge at all to her.

I don't have any real talents, so most of the other clubs are out of my reach. Either that or they sound utterly boring. Quiz Bowl Club? Give me a break. So I'm ready to sign my soul over to the Gardening Club. Nothing else calls for me. A couple of girls by the teacher are scribbling something down on a clipboard that must be for signing up. "I think I'll join this club."

As I wait for my turn to sign up, I stare at Julietta. Instead of at the wooloo or teacher or anything else nearby, she's gazing into the short distance at another booth. I squint to catch what has her so enamoured and am not sure what to make of it.

It's not a booth so much as a foldable table on its last legs with a large paper taped to it reading _Ranger Apprenticeship Club_. Mr. Spurr leans on the table with his arms crossed. I catch him mid-sigh. A couple of guys walk in front of him, past him, not even giving him a first glance. I hear that a teacher's job ain't easy, but this seems like something else.

Julietta keeps looking his way, eyes boring holes into the banner sporting the club name. Is that what she wanted? I'm not a mind reader and I'm not good at conversing, so getting to know her is going to be a long and bumpy road. I don't think I have the drive to befriend anyone else at this school anymore, so I really want to make nice with her. Even if it seems that her dream is to be a ranger. Reluctantly, I say, "Let's go check out some other clubs."

"Huh?" She wrings her hands together. "Didn't you say that you wanted to join this one?"

So she did catch that. Either way, I suck it up and reply, "Can't hurt to keep looking."

But before I say anything else, I hear a familiar squishy, wet, guttural noise that I haven't heard for a month. Time freezes, as does my heart as I snap my head to the source of the sound, back by Mr. Spurr. Once my eyes settle on the scene, a gross splat followed by a bubbling and sizzling sound out.

And no, the nearby Cooking Club booth isn't sauteing anything.

Why is this happening?

I shut my eyes tight for just a second, my stomach knotting up and sinking immediately. Once I open my eyes, I search desperately for Tessa but find her nowhere near me anymore.

It is her. Of course it is.

A chorus of gasps forces me to look back at where Mr. Spurr is. And there stands Tessa, hunched over and sneering. Darts the ninjask flies high in the air, buzzing something at my toxicroak. Below him is a slowly dissipating puddle of Tessa's sludge bomb, as volatile and sickly purple as it always is. I know for a fact that the patch of grass it landed on is not going to grow back for a _long_ time.

I pinch myself and feel like I'm slipping from reality. The huge group of students forming a circle around the two pokémon, many with their phones out taking pictures and videos, as well as the equal-in-number amount of my peers who run a safe distance away, obviously intimidated by and probably scared of Tessa make me want to disappear. Why now, of all places? She's done a great job of holding herself back from battle so far. This is too surreal. And embarrassing.

This is the worst thing that could ever happen. From now on, I'm going to be labeled as the big bad trainer with a hostile toxicroak. Could I be expelled because of this? I dislike this school, but I have some pride.

My brief fading moment is broken by Julietta shaking my arm. "Eryn, what's happening?"

My social life and standing taking the steepest nosedive in history is what's happening. And poor Tessa, assuming she really doesn't know any better, is caught in the middle of my tumultuous brooding. Someone do something, please.

"Capture on!"

A deep voice cuts the tension in the air, as well as my erratic and dramatic train of thought. I rub my eyes harshly before seeing what's up now.

Standing across from Tessa is Mr. Spurr. He takes a wide stance holding his styler out, the capture disk shooting straight for my toxicroak. Without even thinking, I dash the hardest I can over to them, pushing people out of the way if they become obstacles. My chance of a pleasant life here at Hionit Ranger School is most definitely dead, but I refuse to drag Tessa down with me. If I make it there in time, I might be able to hold her back and convince everyone that she poses no real threat to them.

The last thing both of us need is more stress due to Reveriena's standards.

"Please wai-"

I get cut off by a sharp crackling. Tessa uses sucker punch and swipes the capture disk out of the air. Oh why. Mr. Spurr calls his disk back and readies himself again. I'm pretty sure you get a shock from your styler if the line gets broken by an attack. Tessa, why aren't you behaving?

Darts shoots to right in front of her face and buzzes again. This pisses Tessa off. She charges both her hands and flails around with drain punch, coming dangerously close to both the ninjask and a group of students. Anyone who gets hit by that will be knocked out, no doubt. There's no way that Darts is purposely agitating her, though. Who in their right mind would?

Without warning, Darts uses string shot and ties Tessa's arms to her body like a lasso would. His partner holds a hand out and says, "Let's not do that unless necessary. Stand by, alright?"

Why would he do that? Tessa hates being immobilized more than anything. Any time she was caught in string shot or psychic or any kind of trapping move in the past, she trashed and thrashed until she tired herself out and we lost by default.

And as expected, she started stomping and twitching like no tomorrow. I pray that she'll get tired as soon as possible, but my worries about this only grow as instead of staying bound, Tessa breaks out of the hold with bulk up.

What a weak string shot. Reveriena truly isn't a land of battle.

Mr. Spurr, you can get a better hold of your ninjask, you know? I think he's purposefully setting Tessa off. I squeeze her poké ball in my pocket, contemplating all the possible consequences of showing off me being a trainer.

And I'm not sure how ready I am for them.

All I do is shout, "Tessa, stop it, now!"

She pauses for a second mid-poison jab before Darts hisses something at her. It sets her off immediately.

"Darts, please stand back." Mr. Spurr takes aim. Another sludge bomb whizzes through the air at the ninjask. "Everyone, this doesn't have to be a big scene. I have this situation under control. It'll be safe, I assure you." Darts dodges the poison while it flies past and misses his partner. Luckily no one else stands in the line of fire. Tessa, if you want to paint yourself as a villain, keep it up.

Though I can't really speak for myself. It's not like I'm even trying to hold her back, as much as I want to.

A couple people break away from the crowd. With a little more breathing room, Mr. Spurr shoots his capture disk out again, drawing one large loop around Tessa. Like I would expect, she lunges to break the line with a poison jab. He closes the circle in time to avoid the hit, then steps up to continue his capture.

What should I be doing? What can I do? I'm so out of control and lost outside of battles.

This whole scene ticks Tessa off the most I've ever seen since we moved here. Her poison sac is bloated beyond belief. The people staring at her like she's some animal, the man trying to calm her down against her will, me doing nothing but freezing and telling her to back out…

No wonder she snapped.

"Okay, then." After what feels like an eternity in slow motion, Mr. Spurr winds down and takes a breath. Across from him is Tessa, her croaking now low, her poison sac deflating, and her face less pissy.

He captured her? He did?

With everything back to equilibrium, more people from the crowd disperse. I stay still in my place as I watch my teacher approach my toxicroak and hold a hand out. Like always, she smacks it away and turns around, too prideful to do anything properly.

Tessa saunters back to my side and tries hiding behind me. On her way, a student she comes close to bumping into jumps out of the way like she's some menace.

Great. I branded myself as an alien trainer slash class clown on day one, and Tessa is now a savage beast. Damn it all to Hell.

Even still, it was my fault. I hate that I didn't do anything to even try to help. I'm so sorry, Tessa.

Mr. Spurr approaches me with Darts in tow. "I apologize for this, Eryn. Darts has a track record of being a trickster, and it seems he angered Tessa here." He pats my and Tessa's shoulders. "I hope we can move on from this."

There is no correct response. But he did stop Tessa from having that messy battle she kind of started with Darts. I stutter and say, "Thank you."

"She's rather powerful. Very impressive." As he pays the compliment, he starts walking by us. "But please keep in mind that there aren't any battlefields in Reveriena." So he can see right through us.

But I know there aren't. I appreciate what he's trying to tell me, as well as how quietly he said it, but it's not like I wanted Tessa to do that. And as my partner keeps her head down while kicking the ground in shame, I try to come up with any excuse as to why this happened.

And when I look off the side in my own shame, I see Grayson scowling at me yet hugging himself and shivering like we were experiencing a Sinnohan winter.

* * *

Author's note: After this chapter, Eryn's definitely going to step up her game and be less worrisome, and I'll start to go into more detail about Reveriena. Thanks to everyone who's reading.


	3. Hitting It Home

Author's note: I just want to preface this by saying thank you for all the support I got from last chapter! It means a lot.

* * *

"What do you think about today?" I ask, purposely being vague. Julietta and I are back in our dorm, all tucked in and ready to go to sleep. But I can barely keep my eyes closed for more than a blink's worth. What happened just a few hours ago keeps playing over and over again in my head like some crummy movie.

To my left, kissing the wall, is Tessa. After we left the club fair, all she did was follow me with her head down. She really did feel embarrassment from that. Because she made a scene or didn't win over Darts? Either way, it's not like I didn't relate either. It's so rare seeing her like this. I really want to know what that ninjask did to rile her up like that.

"Um, well…" Julietta says with what seems to be like her usual hesitation. "Nothing that bad happened, right?"

I think I get what she's saying, but just because Mr. Spurr stopped Tessa in time before she actually attacked anyone isn't a good thing. Man, everything about Reveriena has rubbed me the wrong way since coming here! A lot of things since we first came put me off, but this tops everything.

I just say, "Sure."

"Well, people might not remember what happened today." That would have flied had we not garnered so much attention, but because we did, I think we've left a lasting impression on everyone. Never mind how pacifistic everyone seems here, which only lends itself to our display's memorability.

"Let's pray and hope…"

"For sure, I think—Ah, Ophelia!" I hear Julietta sit up and almost fall off her bed. She bumps into her bedside table and knocks her glasses (which she seems to only wear in the dorm) to the floor.

"Whoa, what happened?" I shoot up and scramble to turn my lamp on.

"Nothing…" she trails off with a strange inflection. "She just pecked me by accident."

For whatever reason, I find that to be the funniest thing in the world.

Maybe it's because of how negative Tessa and I have been for the past few hours or how the mere thought of going to class tomorrow blends my insides into a fine mush compared with how absurd this seems to be, but I burst out laughing. Like, full-on gut-busting laughter that I know will leave my chest hurting for a few minutes once I stop.

"Hey, come on," she whines. I catch a glimpse of her cramorant hopping down to the floor to assume a bird's sleeping position on the cold tiles. What takes my attention away from Ophelia is Julietta letting out another yelp. She hisses and holds her arm like she just got a booster shot. "Ow, hey!"

She says it in such an exaggerated tone that I know she's pretending. Plus I just saw her cramorant give her some space. And so, I laugh harder, louder even knowing this. She tries to stifle it, but I hear Julietta giggling to herself.

We cause an uproar. Hopefully no one on this floor thinks we're going crazy. I don't think the walls are anywhere near soundproof. My laughter definitely tops Julietta's, but we fill the place with noise, lighting up this dim room's previously gloomy atmosphere.

To my surprise, I can't stop laughing. For a few good seconds long after Julietta stops, I guffaw like an idiot. What cuts me off is Tessa punching me on the back and almost pushing me off the bed. Okay, okay, Sleeping Beauty needs her sleep. Still, she snickers and visibly shakes under the blanket.

Now I wheeze, but before I can say anything else, a startling pounding comes from the other side of the wall my bed is against. Muffled, someone shouts, "Keep it down!"

I clamp a hand over my mouth to both stop myself from giggling again and not swear in pain from the smack just now getting to me. Casually, I respond, "Got it!"

Whoops, we woke up our neighbors. They don't say anything else, so I slowly turn the lights off and lie back down. From across the room, Julietta laughs to herself. I join in, and so does Tessa and I think Ophelia too. And again, there's that splashing noise from last night.

Before I know it, I drift off to sleep.

**~X~**

The next day, I walk into class with Julietta and Tessa. Ophelia feels like sleeping some more, so her partner lets her stay in the dorm for today. Julietta not-so-subtley hinted at leaving Tessa in the room too when we were there, but we didn't think too much of her suggestion. I take light steps to not draw attention to myself, but still hold my breath as I make my way to my seat. Half the class is already here, talking with each other.

No one stops and stares at me or Tessa or says anything to us, but the chatter gets noticeably quieter when I enter.

The door opens before I take five steps and in comes Wyatt, that guy who had people singing praises during the entrance ceremony. He seems like a nice enough guy, friendly and sociable. Certainly the center of attention. He turns heads and is greeted by a lot of our classmates all at once.

Too bad I stopped walking when he came in since he kind of slammed the door, and he's standing like right behind me when people look at him. Wyatt almost bumps into me, but is stopped by Tessa when she yanks his vest back before it happens. With a sheepish smile, he says, "Oh, sorry about that. Morning, Eryn, Tessa."

With that, he casually walks past us, leaving me stunned at how normal that interaction was. I turn around only when Julietta tugs on my elbow, and make eye contact with a few of my classmates. Some ignore me, a couple give me awkward nods, and one gives a friendly wave.

Alright, then. This response isn't terrible. In fact, it's completely normal. Maybe I was being a drama queen about yesterday. But, I can't help but notice how Tessa is trying to stay the farthest she can from anyone else, clearly uncomfortable and walking on eggshells. No one's exactly making an effort to greet her either.

As I reach out to grab my toxicroak's arm and pull her along while she sorts her feelings out, I stop yet again at the door opening. Before I even turn around to see who it is (I'm still standing like right in front of the entrance), there's a loud thud and the sound of rapid footsteps.

Everyone looks to see what's happening. And honestly, I'm not sure what to make of it. On his butt while kicking the floor to scoot back despite already being pressed against the hallway wall is Grayson. He's waving his arms in front of his face as if to shield himself from something. Over the sound of his thrashing feet, he's gasping for air and whimpering slurred nonsense to himself. His dark hair is sticking to his face, which is dripping with sweat. The harsh image he made for himself yesterday is completely moot.

He looks so vulnerable and pathetic. I feel like laughing before realizing that he's scared out of his mind at something.

Wyatt walks past me and kneels down beside the guy and says, "Yo, you alright? What's up?'

Grayson's hyperventilating fills the absolutely dead air. A few of our friendly classmates gather at the door to offer sympathetic glances at the guy. I freeze, probably with my eyes bugging out since I'm not used to these kinds of situations.

"Hey, come on, let's go see the nurse, okay?" Wyatt asks gently as he offers a hand. Grayson makes no effort to stop flailing his arms in front of his face. "Someone help me get him up."

As I'm not heartless, as well as that I'm the next closest person to him, I step up and copy Wyatt's stance. "Dude, co-"

Without any warning, Grayson slaps my hand away. Hard. As I pull it away in shock, the entire back of my hand goes numb for a second and I cry out in pain. As a result, Tessa steps up and approaches him, her usual sneer turned up to eleven and previous depressed demeanor gone.

In turn, Grayson yelps and kicks away from my toxicroak, backing up against Wyatt's legs. "No, get away! You monster, don't touch me!" The complete silence makes his voice ring inside me. His thrashing is so wild, I think he's going to smash holes into the floor.

Then it hits me. Yesterday, he said to keep pokémon away from him, yeah? Well, I would have never expected this to be the reason why.

"It's alright, man, just calm-" As Wyatt says this, Grayson crawls across the floor in spasms, crawls far, far away. Far away from Tessa, that is. And all the way up against Mr. Spurr's shins.

Wyatt and another classmate sprint to the miserable guy. Our teacher offers his hand to Grayson. Darts gets all up in his face like he's offering to be something to lean on, and instead of taking the offer, Grayson gives another yelp, voice cracking and breaking while he practically assumes a fetal position.

"We've got it handled, Damien," Wyatt says, pulling Grayson to his feet. I don't think I'm ever going to get used to the first-name basis thing. "We'll bring him to the nurse."

"Darts, get away from him." Mr. Spurr shoos his partner away. "Everyone, let's go back into the classroom. And please try to keep your pokémon away from Grayson until he feels better."

Mr. Spurr ushers us back inside. I take my seat and rest my head on my still-numb hand. What the hell is Grayson's deal? That's a scene that's going to be hard to forget.

As our teacher digs through a box of chalk at the front of the room, I catch wind of the guy sitting in front of me whispering to the girl sitting in front of Julietta. "Yo, that was crazy. Think he's alright?"

His gossip buddy holds an index finger to her chin before replying, "Definitely not. He was having the biggest panic attack I've ever seen."

To my side I catch Julietta boring holes into her notebook while cupping her hands around her ears like hearing gossip is a sin. The guy speaks up again. "Well, I mean, maybe it was karma or something. He's kind of a jerk, isn't he? He looked like he was going to kill her deerling yesterday." He juts a thumb to the right.

"I saw too. He hates pokémon, doesn't he? Like, what?" _Hate_ is a strong word, though I can't exactly disagree. "Does he live in a bubble? Pretty immature."

As much as I hate to admit it, I disagree with her last sentiment. Grayson was legitimately scared beyond belief, I saw. And I'd think that the snooty image he made for himself during his introduction wouldn't allow for such an embarrassing display.

"Yeah, if anything, I feel bad for that toxicroak. I mean—Oh!" He turns around and situates himself as if he's inserting me into the conversation. "Hey, Eryn, right? How's your partner?"

It takes me a good moment to catch myself and say, "She'll make it." In the background, Mr. Spurr goes on about proper capture protocol, something that I can just look up in a book if I need to learn it a second time. My mind scrambles at the guy in front of me. He feels bad for Tessa? "Why?"

The girl chimes in saying, "Yesterday after school. His ninjask agitated her, didn't he?"

Come again? Wait, we were the victims? No one else but the two pokémon know the whole story, but I need to know what these guys can possibly feel about it. "Yeah, I guess."

"Hope she's doing good now. But seriously, everything about Young Gun Damien is a mess," the guy says. Does he unironically use that long name to refer to our teacher, or is it an insult? Nah, it's probably both if anything. And for whatever reason, Tessa is the wronged one to these guys. "Even his partner is a jerk."

"Tell me about it. Can you imagine what his dad feels? His son's a loser who can't even teach well. But then again, it's not like he had any talent to begin with. Who would hire this guy for anything?" the girl says. Now there's daddy issues? I feel kind of bad that I don't remember their names, but at the same time, they're insulting our teacher as he's trying to teach us, so yeah.

"Headmaster must've been desperate. I heard a teacher quit at the end of last year, so Damien had to have been hired as a last resort. Hionit is the smallest ranger school, after all. Bet there aren't that many people who want to teach here out of the five main schools."

I try to squeeze a little more out of them. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, that's right, you're not from around here." The girl combs some of her hair with her fingers. "All you have to know is that Young Gun Damien is a joke."

That doesn't answer anything. From the front of the room, Mr. Spurr's voice gets louder as he faces the class and presents his capture styler. "It's basic protocol to call out 'capture on' before you begin a capture, kind of like a warning shot to others in the area." Does he hear them? If he does, ouch.

"But you wanna hear something crazy about Grayson?" The guy angles himself like he's now removing me from the conversation. I didn't exactly learn that much from them. "I'm his neighbor in the dorms."

"Really? Why the hell would he live on campus if he doesn't want to be near pokémon?"

"I dunno, but last night, it was surreal. I heard this scream that could break glass from their room, then Grayson just started pounding on the wall and crying bloody murder. I went outside to check what was happening, and the first thing I see is him running past me to who-knows-where."

"Was it his roommate?"

"Yeah, the guy over there." He points at the boy in the seat farthest from the empty desk probably set aside for Grayson (the same one he sat in yesterday) with a sleepy arcanine by his side. "They ran out after Grayson but didn't care enough to follow him."

"Wait, I forget, is his name Dan Itou?"

"I think. Why?"

Come on, my head can't follow this. They're changing topics at the flip of a dime. Why does it matter who's who?

"I knew it. Don't you know about him?" If it's something bad, I'd think she would have reacted yesterday instead of now at this.

"What?" the guy asks.

"My sister's lived in Kanto for a year for work. She sent me this picture of the idiots that made it to the semifinals of the pokémon league there a few months ago." My ears perk at this new information. There's someone else here who's a trainer? No way. Keep talking, go on. I don't even care that she's talking smack about trainers at the moment. "He was one of them."

"No way. Are you sure?"

"He looks exactly like him. They have the same name, too." A few other people turn around to look at them and then Dan with wide eyes.

"Why the hell is he here?" he hisses.

"Dunno. But I feel sick just being near him. Seriously-"

I open my mouth to interject, but promptly shut it once Darts flies in a circle at the ceiling, buzzing like mad. The two in front of me also shut up. Mr. Spurr continues his lesson, nowhere near close to being bothered by his partner's loud interruption. Everyone else in the class is, though.

Lunch rolls around eventually. I stick with Julietta and, like yesterday, get lunch with her and return to the classroom to eat while sharing my desk. Once we settle down, I hear a distinct lack of slobbery gnawing that only comes from Tessa chewing with her mouth open like she always does. Seated at Julietta's desk, my toxicroak slowly and quietly slides morsels of food into her mouth like she's trying to avoid any and all attention.

I need to figure out a way to cheer her up.

The sound of knocking on wood catches my attention. More like a slamming. At the loud noise, Julietta practically has a heart attack and holds her head in her hands.

To my distant right is Dan with his arcanine. Before him are the two people who were sitting in front of me just minutes ago. The guy had slapped Dan's desk, his hand now planted firm and flat on the surface. He leans forward, leering. "Dan Itou."

"Yes?" he says with great uncertainty after gulping.

The girl pitches in. "What a freak."

It's like something out of a Pokéstar Studios production. With that, the pair walk off. Dan is left with his face completely pale and his lower lip trembling. His arcanine barks after the two but doesn't give chase. The poor guy clutches at his heart and opens his mouth wide, closing his eyes shut as he takes deep breaths that I can clearly hear from my spot. He looks like an introvert, so I can only imagine how badly he's taking this.

Well, there can only be so many responses to being called a freak out of the blue. But being called one just for being a trainer? Not cool, Reveriena. Not cool, girl and guy whose names I can't remember.

Before I rip my eyes away from the guy having an episode, another couple of people walk by the open doorway, which happens to be right beside Dan's desk. One of the passing strangers says, "Is that him? The loony tune?"

Their friend replies, "Pretty sure. They said it's the guy with the arcanine." He then pokes his head in the room and glares at Dan. "Why don't you get out of dodge before you ruin things for everyone. Trainers don't belong here."

They walk away, leaving Dan hiding his head in his hands and breathing even heavier. My throat clenches up at that last sentence. All I can do was slowly pivot back to face Julietta and stuff my face so I don't have to say anything. Across from me, my roommate is doing something similar. And only then do I realize that it's only me, her, and Dan in the room now. We weren't supposed to hear that.

It seems like word is spreading about Dan being a trainer, and it only just aired a couple hours ago. Already I know that I shouldn't be honest about my passion. As if the immediate response to my introduction wasn't enough. There's no way I'm going to be some target for cheap bullying. All I can do is see how far people go with Dan. And maybe reach out to him and form a secret society or something just for battles.

**~X~**

The rest of the day passes by more or less pretty quickly. Once the final bell rings and Mr. Spurr sends us off, I'm stopped from dragging Tessa around to try to lift her from her slump by Julietta tugging on my bag. She puckers her lips as everyone noisily exits the room. When silence overtakes us, she says, "Can I ask you a favor?"

I mean, Tessa's kind of my priority here, but I still reply, "Sure."

"Will you… Can you… Can we…" She keeps starting her sentence over and over again while twisting her hands together.

Without even thinking, I tap my foot and hold my tongue. I think Julietta's swell and all, but her nervousness is just a killer. A buzzkill and conversation killer.

Eventually, she asks, "Do you mind going with me into Hionit City?"

Honestly, I'm taken aback. What business does she have there that she needs someone to hold her hand or something? Hionit Ranger School lies on the west-most outskirts of Hionit City, which itself lies right between the geographical midpoint of Reveriena and its west section. Reveriena is actually in the shape of a giant five-pointed star (I can't make this up if I try), and half of the entire west point is dedicated to farmland, the most prominent feature of it being its dense population of wild pokémon.

Simply put, our school is surrounded mostly by dusty plains and pokémon. A few-minutes-by-car distance away is Hionit City, which is like a poster child for modern cities across the world. I've only been there once. With this, a bunch of possibilities of what Julietta can possibly want to do there come to mind, but are immediately shot down considering her personality.

Wary, I say, "What for?"

After circling a wrist with her thumb and middle finger with a squeeze, she says, "I have an orthodontist's appointment there."

I experience a complete lapse of cognition and blank out for a hot second, forgetting what that is. With an awkward laugh, I stretch out filler words to pretend to give her an answer. "Oh, well, you know…"

Julietta looks at me expectantly while biting her lip. Her front teeth are visible and I'm greeted with the color of metal. Small silver squares dot her teeth connected with a thin wire and only then do I realize that she has braces. As well as what an orthodontist is. Covering up my bad moment, I say, "Sure, why not. But why do you need me to come?"

She releases her lips from her bite and presses them together in a small smile. Guess that explains why I didn't catch on; she doesn't smile with her teeth. Or at all in front of an audience, for that matter. "Er, I kind of don't know where it is…"

"What? Didn't you have to, like, go there to make the appointment?"

"It'll be my first time in Hionit."

"Huh?"

"I moved here half a year ago and have been holding off on going because I'm too scared to go there on my own." She hugs herself in what I assume is shame. "I'm the only person in my family living in Reveriena. That's why I stay in the dorms. My parents and old orthodontist set this all up for me."

"Right." I guess I can get where she's coming from, but doesn't she have a GPS or something? Either way, I say, "I guess I can go with you. I haven't been in the city much either."

Hooray for adventure. Might as well scope it out and see if there is anything worthwhile in Hionit City. Though I'm sure it won't hold a candle to somewhere like Jubilife City. At my okay, Juliette's face lights up and she flashes me with her braces. One of the little squares on her front teeth slides left and right on the wire as she tilts her head. I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen, so that's likely why she has an appointment.

"Let's get Ophelia, then we can go."

With that, I let her drag me back to our dorm and fetch her cramorant, who is still napping on Julietta's bed like she was when we left in the morning. I'm so jealous of her. Then with my roommate tugging on my arm like a child who can't wait anymore, I racewalk out the door, down the stairs, and onto the front grounds of our school. It all happens in a whirlwind.

We find ourselves sitting at the bus stop across the way from school, kicking our legs as we sit on the bench and place our bets as to whether or not the bus will come in five minutes like the schedule says it will. Tessa squats down low on the concrete while tracing her finger on it in squiggles. A small dot of neon purple drips from the claw on her knuckle and lands on the ground, causing a resounding sizzle and bubbles that leave behind a small divot in the concrete once it subsides. Oh, I can only imagine how potent her poison is. She's been croaking to herself ever since yesterday, churning and fermenting the venom stored inside her sac.

"So," I say to break the tension. In my hand is the business card to Julietta's orthodontist. Without much effort, I punch the address into my phone and get the simplest directions there I can. "If we take the next bus that's coming, the… Haven Avenue stop should be where we get off. We'll land right in front of the office."

Easy enough. Julietta nods in time for the bus to honk its horn and pull up to the curb. Because I have to physically grab and drag Tessa along with us as she's in her own little world, my roommate boards first. I follow and pay the fare for me and my toxicroak.

Julietta sits on a bench made for two people that's closest to the back door. Ophelia sits on her lap. I slide into the space beside her and yank Tessa until my pokémon's kneeling beside me. She doesn't seem like she's moving, and I'm not picking her up just to give her the seat since she's damn heavy.

"Oh boy." I hide my words in a sigh.

"How many stops until we get off?" Julietta asks while hugging Ophelia tight.

"I don't know." Since she's sitting in the window seat, I say, "Just read the road signs as we go."

"Right," she says, falling over the r several times.

With a slow churn, the bus lurches forward. We cruise at a smooth speed. The hum of the engine and warm air in the vehicle make me close my eyes. Today was a mess. Certainly not as bad as yesterday, but still pretty bad. I want to go to sleep and not wake up for a while.

I open my eyes slowly and gaze out the window. Instead of green grass and dry dirt, small buildings and other cars litter the view. Up ahead is a dense city beckoning us forward with a sleek skyscraper emitting bright lights under the overcast that has been here since morning. A huge plasma screen is stuck to the front of the building playing a random commercial that features a ranger.

Not caring enough, I close my eyes again and slump back. "I'm gonna get some shuteye. Wake me up when we get there, 'kay?"

"What?" Her voice quivers. Immediately, she nudges me with her elbow. "No, what if we miss it?"

"It'll be fine." And even if it won't be, how lost can we get on a bus?

Julietta whimpers but doesn't say anything else. Tessa leans on my shins and I start to nod off.

However, my solace doesn't last that long as I'm jostled awake by the bus coming to an abrupt stop some time later. In a panic, I snap my head around and try to figure out what's happening. A couple other people are seated around us and the bus is still running, just stopped at a red light. Out the window I see unfamiliar territory. Below the window and clutching her stomach is Julietta. "What happened?"

She puts her thumb to her mouth and bites the nail. "Um, well… I think the next stop is the last one."

"Come again?" I straighten my back out while leaning closer to her. "I'm pretty sure Haven Avenue isn't at the end of the line."

"I know, but…" She looks off to the side and balls her hands into fists. "We passed it a while ago.

"Why didn't you wake me, then?"

"I wanted to, and I tried, but you wouldn't wake up, and I thought it would be rude to push it…"

"You should have shook me harder." Jeez, so damn frustrating! There's being shy, then there's being just _ugh_. We're here for her to begin with. Holding it in, I take a breath and say, "Fine. No changing it now. Let's just go to Haven Avenue and get this over with."

Hesitating, Julietta says, "How?"

"Take a bus back?" I admit, it comes out a little snippy. What other option is there?

"But that costs money…"

Oh, she's going frugal on me? "Then do you suppose we walk?" I get a slow nod in response. "Do you know where?"

"Um, the bus went in a straight line the whole time."

Great. Peachy. "And what time is your appointment?"

Julietta twists her hands and blushes. "Let's take the bus again."

At this, I laugh and pat her shoulder. Just have to make the most of things.

**~X~**

With an embarrassing farewell, I turn around after pushing Julietta into her orthodontist's office. She's going to be a while, so I need to figure out a way to kill time. Thank goodness this office is part of an oversized mall full of a bunch of different places to check out.

Tessa drags her feet behind me as we explore the place. The first thing that comes to mind is the food court. I still need to treat Tessa's sadness, so maybe food is a good first step, even greasy fast food. Hopefully the restaurants here have pokémon-friendly menus.

I follow my nose and a bunch of directional signs to the basement level. After we exit the stairwell, we're met with two halls leading to different areas. The left one goes to the food court and the right one houses a bunch of sports joints.

Left is obviously the right answer. However, I stop in my tracks at the sound of a clean _smack_ ringing through the air. Several more satisfying hits follow. I look to the wall with a directory board posted on it. Opposite the food court is a bowling alley and a batting cage.

Batting cage, eh? Nice way to let off steam, right? I get an idea.

One look at Tessa seals the deal. I drag her back down the hall and straight to a storefront decorated with baseball stuff. I march in and practically throw money at the man behind the counter for an hour of free batting for two. He hands me two metal bats and leads the way to the field.

We step onto dirt and stand atop white base markers. Vibrant green astroturf stretches all the way across the room to where a bunch of targets are set up on a board standing a little bit off the wall. Below the targets are pitching machines aimed right for us. Me and Tessa are separated by black chain link fence. Other people occupy the place, filling the air with a solid rhythm of grunt, swing, and either strike or whiff. It cycles over and over again and creates somewhat of a music, something that I can get into ignoring the one person that's grunting way too loudly every move he makes.

I walk out of my lane into Tessa's and forcibly shove one of the metal bats between her small hands, making sure to avoid her claws. She grumbles. I pet her head and say, "Come on. Just try to beat me."

I wear the shit-eating grin that I know she hates. Immediately, her head snaps up and she shoves me. Oh, my dear Tessa. I will destroy you, as well as all the crappy feelings you still have today. "Just try."

A control panel is taped to the fence. The glowing green _START_ button calls my name. With a quick press, the pitching machine across Tessa comes to life. The control panel has a bunch of other prettyful and mysterious buttons waiting to be pressed, but I think the basic default setting should be good for us beginners.

I scurry into my lane and boot up my pitcher. With a wide stance, I clutch my bat close and squint real hard at the machine. A swift popping noise comes out from the one opposite Tessa, and out flies a baseball straight for her. Don't even think about missing this moment. Neither of us know how to play baseball, much less bat properly, so I can use some popcorn over here.

Tessa assumes a stance that looks kind of right. She grips her bat and is completely still before the ball flies halfway to her. The bases are loaded, tensions are high, and the crowd waits with bated breath for this moment… Will Tessa hit it home or not?

As the ball comes close enough for her, she swings her arms and bat like she's beating the stuffing out of an overly-resilient piñata that refuses to break (which I've seen before on my tenth birthday). Finally, she takes one last swing and puts everything she has into it, causing her feet to slip up and her to spin in a circle from the sheer force of the move.

And she misses gloriously.

The baseball hits the fence behind her with a loud jingle against the metal. Almost immediately, Tessa stomps her foot and resumes her stance, and I can't help but laugh my ass off. This is too beautiful to put into words. Another ball shoots out and she doesn't even swing before it hits the ground.

"You can—Haha!" I can't hold it anymore and cackle like a witch. Before I know it, there's another rush of wind, and one more baseball comes at Tessa. Giving her signature sneer, Tessa digs her foot into the ground and holds her bat close. She's in this now.

"Hey, batter batter, swing, batter batter! Miss, batter batter,miss!" I chant like my life depends on it. Come on, three-for-three.

_Whoosh_. _Clang. Thud._ The baseball hits the floor and rolls to her feet. Now I'm laughing up a storm. Who the hell wouldn't? Tessa assaults the fence with her bat and releases it, letting it clatter to the floor. She then comes over into my lane and stares me down. I stick my hand out and waggle my index finger at her. "Oh yeah, like it's gonna be hard to beat yo—Oh shit!"

I yank my hand back and cradle it in my chest. Damn, that freaking hurt! I didn't even notice that my pitching machine booted up completely while I was having fun at Tessa's expense. Ah, and I only just forgot about the slap I got this morning. Though I suppose it can be worse; that wasn't a fastball. A slowball if anything. Meant for beginners and amateurs.

"Okay, that's it." The pain means nothing to me. Tessa is literally on the floor laughing her ass off like I just was to her. Every hiss and croak raises the temperature inside my head until I'm seeing red. "I'll show you—Fuck!"

So lame. Instead of jumping to a batter's stance, I don't move at all as I'm talking, and a baseball nails me in the stomach. Holy hell, that's messed up! Who put that there?

Drowning out my dry heaves of pain are Tessa's howls of laughter. Through grit teeth and as the feeling dulls, I say, "Yeah, yeah, hardy har—Watch out!"

_Thunk_. A baseball falls to the floor and rolls onto the astroturf. Across from me, Tessa holds her head and practically uses scary face at the pitching machine. Now she gets it.

"I am going to hit that target," I declare while pointing at a big bullseye on the board above the machines. "If it's the last thing I do. Before you, of course."

No more fooling around. Seriously, that just gets me hit with a baseball. I take my stance and put every bit of focus in me on the pitching machine. There's a clatter and a distinct lack of laughter, and I know Tessa's copying me. Okay, just breathe.

It shoots a straight ball. Come on, come on.

"Damn it!" This shouldn't be this hard. It's freaking baseball.

Over on Tessa's side, her ball whizzes through the air and… past her head. Again, she doesn't even try swinging.

"This one for sure."

Or not so much.

"Come on!"

Miss. Another stupid miss. Well, it's not like Tessa's faring any better. I narrow my eyes. Yeah, this is it.

Right as the ball comes halfway, I close my eyes and swing. And a marvelous sound comes out. It strikes my core and makes my heart skip a beat. "Yeah! You see that? That's how you…"

Why? At my feet is another baseball. At my toxicroak's lane is Tessa leaning forward with a smile of pure joy and fulfillment. I snap my head left in time to catch wind of her baseball soaring through the air straight at the bullseye I set my sights on. And it hits perfectly. The target slips down and a ding sounds out, then it stands back up to be hit again.

She has to be cheating.

"Tessa!" I point at her and realize how she did it. "That's playing dirty."

She hides her hands behind her as she faces me. I know for a fact she used sucker punch to send that sucker flying. There's no doubt she has better accuracy with that than a bat. The bat on the floor a ways away says as much. "Dirty little cheater," I sing, ignoring the flyer posted on the fence that says that anything is fair game as long as we don't break anything or hurt anyone. "What, you can't hit it like a normal person? Oh, that's too ba—Ah-ha!"

Sweet, I step back in time to dodge an incoming ball. At my curled lips, Tessa leans on and shakes the chain link fence between us. We stare each other down. "Let's face it, both of us suck at batting." Even still, we grin at each other and nod.

Simultaneously, we grab our bats and ready ourselves for the next wave of baseballs. "Hey, batter batter, swing!"

I miss. And so does Tessa.

One more try, on with it. And miss! And pitch and swing and miss. One more time! "Oh, man, we suck!"

We're practically wagging our bats in the air and letting pure chance decide on the outcome. I don't think I would have it any other way because the smile on my face is so wide, my cheeks start to hurt. I don't even need to look to know that my partner is doing the same.

The people in the other lanes probably think we're a couple of idiots, but who cares? I start laughing and step back to both catch my breath and steady myself. Sweat drips from my face.

Boy am I glad I stop when I do. Just as I turn to my left, I witness Tessa fling her bat out at the perfect timing. Such a satisfying clink of metal on leather, or whatever baseballs are made out of. The bat kisses the ball and sends it up in the air.

The first one one of us manages to hit. Brilliant. I mean it.

But it's not made to last. Instead of looking off into the distance to see the ball go, I look up, up, all the way up to the high ceiling of the batting center where lamps hang down. Just missing one of the lamps and smashing into a support beam is Tessa's baseball. Perfect.

"Oh…" I hum with a bouncy cadence. Just a fast as it happens, the ball comes back to the ground, narrowly missing Tessa's foot. As soon as it lands, she kicks the damn thing across the room, just missing the target we both shot for.

And it's the best thing in the world.

But I can't react to it yet. Now's my chance. I swallow the belly laugh that threatens to come out and take my place with bat in hand. Imagine if I knock the next ball out of the park after all this happened. Then I can rightfully laugh.

My machine whirs to life again. Time slows down as the baseball shoots right for me. No hesitation. No garbage shots. I got this. Tessa's failure fuels my hunger for success. I just know that I'll hit this one.

My body moves on its own. Much later than I had been doing it, I swing and feel the bat kiss the ball, which sends a shock down my arms straight to my heart. So that's the timing.

No matter. It soars straight for the bullseye in a perfect trajectory. There's no way this will miss. Somehow Tessa comes over to my side in the short seconds it takes and starts shaking my arm in anticipation. We hold each other and wait for the magic to happen.

But just as my baseball gets close enough, another one flies from somewhere else. It's path is kind of perpendicular to my mine, and it's going much, much faster. In that split second, I can clearly see what's going to happen.

And I don't like it.

"N-" A loud ding drowns me out. The bullseye circle falls down from the board it's on and someone gets the bragging rights. Immediately after, my ball goes through the hole the now-gone target leaves behind. I didn't actually hit the target…

I roar, and I mean roar. Someone in another lane whoops, probably the guy who sunk the hit. _Second_, if I could add. But of course that's not how it counts.

Tessa shakes me. We look each other in the eyes, both out of breath and on the verge of tears from our failure.

Despite it all, we hug each other and immediately laugh our asses off. Forget giggles snowballing into screams of laughter; there's no time for that. This is the funniest thing in the world, hands down, damn it! I don't even care, and neither does Tessa. It's going to take a miracle to make us shut up now, even as we step up to the plates again. Don't even get me started on what happens when Tessa accidentally lets go of her bat and sends it flying until it ends up hitting the target.

I think baseball is my new favorite sport.


	4. Getting My Feet Wet

"Why didn't you wake me up again?" I ask Julietta as we get off the bus at its last stop, which just so happens to be five blocks from school. Yet again, my roommate got too nervous to shake us awake and we missed our stop. "I really wouldn't have minded."

"I'm sorry." She looks straight down and scurries to the next crosswalk. Well, we can't really do anything at this point; neither of us have any more money on hand to pay for yet another bus ride back, which would be golden since it's pretty dark.

"Let's just hurry before they lock the gates on us." School has a curfew of 10 PM to get back to the dorms. There's a couple hours left before we're due, but I desperately want to become one with my bed. I roll my shoulders and straighten my back. Man, batting is unforgiving to the body. Tessa's sore all over too. Alright, maybe we went overboard after we started laughing so it's on us, but still.

"Right." She holds her cheeks, which she's been doing every few seconds ever since I met up with her back at her orthodontist's. Must have hurt. I'm glad my teeth are mostly fine.

The pedestrian light starts blinking red as I step onto the street. It's so easy to cross it all the way in time before it changes completely, and there aren't even any cars around. Even still, Julietta plants her feet to the ground and waits for the light to change to white. Reluctantly, I jerk a few steps back and wait next to her.

A cool wind blows and tousles my hair. Summer has maybe a couple weeks left before it subsides for the rainy autumn this section of Reveriena is known for. At least, that's what weather channels tell me. Looking up, the sky is a deep, dark blue that has a few stars dotting it. I've never seen a sight like this in Sinnoh. It's pretty, actually. Plus it's completely silent, save for the wind and ticking walk light.

I'm not one for silence, though. So, as we get the right of way and start crossing the street, I say, "Long day."

"Mm."

"I've got a question." She's clearly not going to carry the conversation, so I take the reins. "You heard from earlier, before lunch, those two guys who sat in front of us, yeah?"

"Yeah?" She stretches the word out much longer than necessary.

"Well, really what's on my mind is Mr. Spurr. Do you know anything about him?" From what I heard, he seems to be a local joke.

"Not really." She fiddles with the small braid of hair hanging by her ear. "I just know that everyone doesn't take him seriously."

That's putting it nicely. As people have put it before, he's a _joke_. How does one even earn that reputation? As we stop at another crosswalk, I pull my phone out and get the brilliant idea to search his name. "Damien Spurr, huh?"

"What are you doing?" She peaks over my shoulder. With a quick gasp, she adds, "Why?"

"Huh?" I don't press the magnifying glass icon on my screen yet. "Why else? Aren't you curious? I know I am."

"But that's not, um, well…" She sputters several times more and can't finish her sentence. Eventually she chokes out, "That's mean."

"Mean?" I stutter a couple times. Is she serious? "Well, kind of, but really?"

With gusto I could never guess she had, Julietta says, "You wouldn't like it if someone dug into your history and laughed at you, would you? Sometimes the past should stay in the past, so stop."

Oh. I'm actually at a loss for words. Where is this coming from? But, I mean, she's not wrong. Her attempt at a glare makes my face flush. I put my phone away and take a sharp intake of air. "Right. My bad."

We walk along in awkward silence now. There's something more to this, but there's no way I can push it. I'm not even entertaining the thought of pushing it. A past best left unforgotten? I can't fathom what that can possibly be, and for whom.

Eventually Hionit Ranger School comes within view. We slip inside and go straight to our dorm with no issue, still in awkward silence. When we finally settle down, I turn my lamp off and nudge Tessa to get her to move her leg from my half of the bed.

"Nighty night," Julietta says.

"Yeah, night."

What follows is a brief moment of utter silence, broken by Tessa's loud version of snoring, which is just a weird gurgling noise and the sound of her sac inflating and deflating. Over the years of sleeping in the same room with her, it's become somewhat of a lullaby to me. Except that I don't want to sleep just yet.

I keep my eyes open and shake my arms above me as time passes. Soon enough, there's a soft breathing that means Julietta is asleep too. To make sure that everyone's out, I playfully sing, "Yodelayheehoo~"

Nothing changes in the air, so I'm in the clear. In one smooth motion, I sit up against the headboard and take my laptop from my bedside table. I power it on, the screen lighting up my small section of the room. Beside me, Tessa's sleeping with the biggest damn smile on her face I've ever saw. Yeah, baseball surely is a great sport. How could I have ever thought otherwise?

"Alrighty, then." I plug my phone into a USB port to charge it for tomorrow, as well as my headphones. Sleep doesn't seem to be calling my name tonight. As soon as I can, I open up a web browser and glide my fingers across the keyboard. "Dami-"

I stop myself before I even hit a key and look over to my sleeping roomie. A past not meant to be unearthed? What could he possibly be hiding? I need to know, I just do. If I find something I wish I hadn't, I'll just keep my mouth shut. That'll work. It has to.

Despite my hesitation and the angel Julietta dancing on my shoulder, I slowly type in my teacher's name and wait. It takes a second for a bunch of results to show up. There's a mix of news articles and video clips staring at me, most of which don't feature Mr. Spurr, but an older gentleman. "The heck?"

I click on the first link and am met with an article called "Hionit City Ranger Base Leader Jonathan Spurr Steps Down" dated back a year ago. Same last name and city, but that doesn't help me at all. The guy in question doesn't even look like my teacher, so I just read the first paragraph to see if there's anything else connecting the two.

_After over 30 years of service, Jonathan Spurr, leader of Hionit City Ranger Base, has decided to retire after a lasting injury sustained during a Ranger Union-issued mission that has left him unable to perform his duties. The question as to who will succeed Spurr as leader has already come up._

Bleh, so cut and dry. Best wishes to the dude and whatever, but I'm looking for something else. I go back and click on another link which turns out to be an article titled "Hionit Ranger Base Mission Fail! Who's to Blame?"

Could they even try to hide that this is a gossip piece? I'm not in the mood, so I go back and try another link. If I'm doing this, I might as well get the facts down right. Next, "Nepotism at Work? Jonathan Spurr Left Speechless" comes up. Well, I don't know what that word really means and am too lazy to take one second to look it up, so I quit out.

"Whatever, let's try a video." It shouldn't be this hard. Jeez, doesn't my teacher have a social media page or something to make this search easier? The video buffers as I put my headphones on.

"_I'd like to thank everyone for coming today. All the support you've shown me is so heartwarming, and I'm proud to have been ranger base leader of this great city._" Applause follows the man, Jonathan, in the video. He's standing on a stage behind a podium with a row of people sitting in foldable chairs behind him. The seats are filled up except for one empty one right in the middle. "_It's with a heavy heart that I relinquish my position as leader, but happily welcome it to my dear friend William._"

Alright, there's no way I'm watching this hour-long video of people I don't even know. I skip ahead to try to see if anything happens. Spoiler alert: nothing does. The one thing that I can name is at the very end, where Jonathan says, "_But there's one member at base who I'm especially proud of that couldn't make it today and deserves some recognition for all the effort and time he's put into work, so before we end today, I would like to mention and commend my-_"

Right here, the video ends abruptly. Okay, this is getting nowhere. I exit out and scan the web search results and select a video that has Mr. Spurr on the thumbnail. If this doesn't get me anything, I'm moving on. Wow, okay, I kind of feel like a stalker right now. Definitely need to stop after this.

"_That is wrong!_" Mr. Spurr blows my ears out. Dude, that's so loud!

Someone else in the video says, "_Stop trying to be a hero. We didn't need your help. You're the one who made a mess to try to fix it._"

"_I put my best foot forward in all my endeavors. Please-_"

"_Stop riding on your father's coattails if all you can do is cause trouble_."

Mr. Spurr pulls on a clump of his hair and his face looks like he's going through a psychotic break or something. "_I'm not a daddy's boy. I am not. I'm not!_"

My blood runs cold. I pause the video and rip my headphones off, both from how loud he explodes and from my heart starting to pound. Such a raw, desperate cry, the likes of which I've never heard before, one that the other people refuse to listen to. Could rival a roar from a pyroar by my guess. So surreal.

In the video which seems to be posted a year ago, my teacher is throwing a tantrum like a child. That's all I can really say about it, and I'm not sure whether to cringe or empathize. This is some rabbit hole.

Reluctantly, I put my headphones back on and resume play at a lower volume. "_No more! I'm not, you're wrong!_"

Next thing I see, Mr. Spurr spikes the capture styler he's holding onto the ground like it's a football. It explodes into shards of red plastic and a mess of wiring and metal. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't rangers supposed to, y'know, take care of that thing? He just destroyed that thing.

The video cuts off here. Slowly, I soak it all in while trying to make any sense of this. If I'm going to see Mr. Spurr almost every day here at school, I'd prefer to respect him than anything else. My eyes settle on the title of the video, and I start feeling a little sick.

_Young Gun Damien Meltdown!_

Jokes are supposed to make everyone laugh. It's not funny if people are laughing at you. Even I know as much. The comment section doesn't help any bit. Is this even a joke?

I gulp and try to think of something, anything else to preoccupy my mind. Is this the kind of dark history Julietta was referring to earlier? If so, I should have listened to her. This feels surreal. I didn't even know that stuff like this happens in real life, only on the silver screen. Well, with exception to the oh-so-warm welcomes I got when I tried challenging people to battles my first month in Reveriena.

My thoughts shift gears immediately when I look up to my bookmark bar and see the Galarian championship match I've rewatched countless times. The name Dan Itou comes back to me with that. From what I overheard this morning, he was in the last Kanto semifinals. Thank the stars above for something else to look at. Just forget I saw anything about Mr. Spurr.

It's not hard to find an archived livestream of the last Kanto League championship tournament. Now this is more my speed. On the sidebar is a list of the matches in order. The third battle is between Dan and some other guy, so I skip to the timestamp for it and wait.

On screen, Dan and his opponent waltz onto the battlefield before a screaming and cheering crowd. To the left side is Dan, who looks similar to how he does in class. His haircut is different, though, and his posture is much more, I guess, confident than I saw. Other than that, pretty much the same. Practically two different people in terms of aura, though.

This must mean he's a beast on the battlefield. I need to battle him.

"_Remember, the preliminary round for this year's tournament will be a three-on-three double battle! With that, battle begin!_" the referee announces.

Dan sends out his first pair before his opponent with a smirk. "_Bo-fi, Silas._" An arcanine and a poliwrath take the field. The other side meets him with an alakazam and a dewgong. "_Kick it off with flare blitz and focus blast!_"

In an instant, Bo-fi (I'm assuming that's a shortening of "bonfire". I mean, what else can it be? He's saying it with a weird inflection, though) sets himself ablaze in bleeding red that burns blue at the ends, small specks of fire falling off like sparks. He leaps into the air with his hind legs, and the camera pans to an angle that shows him majestically eclipsing the sun. Under him, Silas claps his huge hands together and parts them just enough to reveal a concentrated ball of energy between them. It grows and grows to a healthy size and shines brightly until it becomes as big as his stocky body.

His opponent commands, "_Use psychic and return that focus blast! Dewey, extinguish him with water pulse!_"

The alakazam raises his spoons and hums calmly. A pink energy coats the focus blast and makes it decelerate. Meanwhile the dewgong shoots an orb of water from his horn at Bo-fi, who hurtles down at him like an asteroid. Unable to dodge the move, the arcanine charges through the water pulse despite the sizzle and steam the collision causes and finishes strong by landing on Dewey. Chunks of earth fly into the air.

A bright mane dusted with dirt and soot pops up from the debris. Bo-fi howls and jumps back, clearing the dust cloud and revealing a fainted dewgong. The ref declares, "_Ian's dewgong is unable to battle!_"

So freaking awesome. My heart pounds in my chest as I grip my blanket in anticipation. A one-hit knockout just like that? This guy's amazing!

Something's pressing on my arm, something slightly moist and sticky. In the crook of my elbow is Tessa's head, her eyes wide open and locked to the screen. Happy to oblige, I adjust my position so that we can share the view.

**~X~**

Okay, I regret watching all those videos last night. Instead of sleeping like I should have, I watched as many battles of that tourney that I could, and before I know it, my alarm goes off. I quickly compose myself and end the ringing, then put my laptop off to the side. My lap is burning from the heat it gave off after using it for so long. Leaning on my shoulder is Tessa, who tapped out after an hour of watching together.

Sleep is not for the weak. No, I can say for certain that is the case.

"Morning." With that weak greeting, Julietta rises from her bed. In response, I yawn a big one.

Alright, let's just get through another day. With that mindset, I force myself out of bed and stretch. Tessa wakes up now that she doesn't have a pillow anymore and resorts to sitting on the edge of the mattress and watching me. Half-asleep, I go through the motions and get ready for the day.

When I make it out the door, I'm walking with my eyes closed. I wonder if I can get away with sleeping in class. Bits and pieces of the videos I watched last night repeat in my head, the most notable one being Mr. Spurr's despite how much I want to forget it.

I enter the classroom and first see that Julietta's already in her seat. Also at their desk is Dan. Already I can't help myself. I saunter over to my unspoken assigned seat and drop my backpack on the floor while patting my roommate on the back for a greeting.

There's a clear path to Dan. Just got to make my way over and start talking. I walk towards the guy with Tessa by my side. He's resting his head in crossed arms on top of his desk as his arcanine curls up by his feet and appears to nap. So, when I make it to my destination, I awkwardly tap my foot and hesitate to get his attention. Like, what am I supposed to do?

I guess tap his shoulder. When I do, Dan jolts up and looks around wildly. Only then do I notice how messy his untamed bedhead is, as well as how tired he looks. His eyes struggle to keep open and he's stifling a yawn. Did he pull an all nighter like me? No, isn't Grayson his roommate? I wonder what went down last night between them if I believe the gossip I heard yesterday. "Uh, hi there."

Dan nods but doesn't say anything. Tessa elbows his arcanine who doesn't react. Not the response I expect but fine. Since there are other people around, I can't exactly outright say what I want to. Instead, I opt to try to be friendly. I yank Tessa away from Bo-fi, who looks like he wants to nap, and say, "You good?"

"Yeah," he replies, stuttering a couple times. He keeps his head down and twists his hands together like Julietta. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Not really. Just wanted to chat. That okay?"

"I'm sorry. Please leave me alone. I'm not what you think I am, honest."

"I was just thinking, wouldn't it be nice if-" It takes me much longer than I'd like to admit to realize what he just said. He can't be serious. I stutter before saying, "Come again?"

"No, I'm sorry," he says before resting his head in his arms on his desk again.

"Huh?" My jaw just about falls to the floor. Can my brain be any mushier right now? From last night's research to this, I really don't even know what to feel about anything.

His arcanine perks up and stands. He's very tall, and very… angry? With a snarl, he takes a step towards me, knocking Tessa to the ground when he bumps into her with his leg. Whoa, wait, this isn't the type of battle I want.

Before anything can happen, Dan holds an arm out between me and his partner. "Bonfire, please don't," he says quickly. So it is Bonfire.

"I, uh…" Seriously, how am I supposed to react to this? "We can settle this with a battle," I say lowly while holding a fist up to get my point across.

Dan's face twists into a… confused? offended? disturbed? No, a _disgusted_ frown, like someone just spit on him. I know from experience (I was the one making the face, of course). He whips his head left and right twice before clutching onto Bonfire's mane. "Why would you say that? You're insane."

I can only assume this is his response because of all the grief he got just yesterday about being a trainer, but come on. It can't be that hard to have a battle without drawing attention to ourselves. I'm not even sure what I want from this at this point. As a small group of people come in the room, I bow my head, whisper a quick semi-empty apology to Dan, and slink back to my desk.

"This is just peachy," I say while resting my cheek in my palm. Over yonder, a couple of classmates purposely kick Dan's chair as they pass him by.

"Did you say something?" Guess Julietta didn't catch that.

Mr. Spurr enters and starts talking right away, so I hold my breath and shoot a sideways glance to Dan, who has his head down. And I'm not the only person giving him a look in the classroom.

**~X~**

The week goes by in a boring flash. Before I know it, it's Friday and our class has the outside practice field in front of the school for demonstrations. Mr. Spurr has us stand on the well-tended grass in a circle with him in the center as he briefs us on what to do. Well, a circle with a couple holes in it. Grayson and Dan stand across from each other, both rather far distances from everyone else but still participating. Everyone with a pokémon partner squeezes near me at the extreme opposite end from Grayson to give him space.

Things can only get better. That has to be the case. Never mind how for the past few days Grayson keeps shooting me dirty looks and cowers from Tessa, or how Dan always runs away in the other direction when I go near him. But in my defense, he seems to do that with everyone.

With a clap, Mr. Spurr greets us. Despite him clearly starting class, some people still hold side conversations and ignore him, not even trying to be subtle about it. He keeps pressing on, but I wonder if he's actually bothered by it or is one of those apathetic teachers. "Alrighty, let's get started, everybody. Before we dive straight into the action, I have a few announcements to make. First, remember that joining a club is mandatory and that the deadline for signing up for one is tomorrow."

Damn, I actually forgot about that tidbit. I'm not even sure what club will take me, much less which one I would willingly join. Guess I'll just follow Julietta or something.

Mr. Spurr continues, "Next, if everyone could please open up their styler menus and select the _Top Ranger_ application, please."

I pull my styler from my vest pocket, clutching it extra tight just in case I drop it. When I follow the directions, I find a screen with _Rank 0_ displayed on it. Julietta unabashedly peers over my shoulder to see what to do.

"I am pleased to announce that the _Top Ranger_ system is a go. It's usually available from the first day of class, but there was some unexpected maintenance that needed to be done. It's a much more intuitive system once you get used to it." During his spiel, I tap through the menus and land on a screen with an entry log on it. "Simply put, it records everything you do."

Yeesh, what exactly is this thing? Tessa squats by my leg and hides in the small shade I cast as the sun beams down on us. No one else really says or does anything. Jeez, tough crowd.

"Every capture you make and properly-processed request you fulfill, it records your progress and gives you points accordingly. Every month, you will get a points quota to keep you on your toes that will count as a pass/fail test grade depending on whether you meet it or not," Mr. Spurr rattles off. Okay, I see where this is going. "Keep in mind that requests are favors you do for those in need requiring the aid of capturing a pokémon and need to be approved by an instructor before they are qualified for points.

"Once you meet the quota, you can either stop there or continue to earn points. As to why you would do the latter, you will be ranked out of all 300 students currently attending this school based on your points total. Besides bragging rights, the person who is ranked first either the longest or by a wide margin depending on circumstances at some point in the school year will receive special privileges to be specified at a later date."

This just keeps going and going. I get it. Hit the quota, easy A. Everyone chatters loudly, many boasting about their skills. Ugh, seriously.

"There are other nuances to this system, but you'll figure them out as you go along. So, that's enough about that. Let's begin, shall we?" Our teacher runs his hands together and offers an excited smile. As expected, no one responds. His face drops and he dons a solemn expression. "But let me just say this now. This points system is good and all here at school as an incentive, and that's fine for now. But if all that'll drive you to get points is to just get points, I strongly recommend you review why you're even at this school to begin with. A ranger's duty is to preserve nature and help others above all else, not to peak in ranger school."

His last sentiments strike me down. He said it so coldly too. Why am I here? Because my parents didn't like me moping around after we moved here once I learned I couldn't battle anyone, so they thought that this would help me acclimate and open up to Reveriena. Hell yeah, I'm just getting points to get it over with. I can get behind helping others and all that, but nothing's going to change my mind; Tessa and I are going to be champion one day.

But wow, Mr. Spurr's getting savage. No one even makes any snide remarks under their breath as far as I can make out. Meanwhile, Julietta stands beside me nodding at our teacher's every word. Does she really believe whole-heartedly in this?

"Okay, let's get started. First, I want everyone to split into pairs and stand in front of a post." Mr. Spurr points at a line of well-spaced-out wooden posts not too far from us. Strapped to each one is some long strip of metal just as tall as them with a long prong sticking out at each extreme.

Sure, alright, I'll play this game. Pairs? I glance at Julietta, who gives me a small smile and moves to stand a little too close to me. Everyone else does the same, with the exception of two people: Grayson and Dan. Could they be anyone else?

I'm just waiting for the mess that will most definitely ensue. Not one minute after Mr. Spurr calls us to pair up, they're the only two left without partners. That's kinda sad. No, it's _really_ sad. At least there's an even number of students in this class.

Grayson is something else. He's clenching fists at his sides and gritting his teeth. He leers at the pokémon around and doesn't move from his spot, as if he's expecting the last person needing a buddy to go to him. Jeez. I feel sorry for whoever needs to take the bullet, i.e. Dan. Also, I don't think he even realizes who the leftover is. From what I've heard, they hate each other.

A polar opposite, Dan trembles and clutches onto Bonfire while taking the babiest of baby steps forth to his default partner. Only when he meets Grayson halfway does the prickly guy scowl and flinch back with an arm up for presumably defence. Neither make any move to meet.

Off to the side, Mr. Spurr is sighing and checking a clipboard he's holding. When he looks up, he's sure to pair the two together despite their obvious opposition to it. As much as I want to say that I'll laugh at that, I don't think I can, much less want to. Imagine the awkwardness they'll cause.

But thankfully, that's not a possibility anymore. From another pair, Wyatt holds his arm up and starts walking towards the two. He says, "Hey, Grayson, let's be partners."

Dumbstruck, my eyes dart over to his apparent ex-partner, who has a pokémon partner. He grimaces before obviously faking a smile and copying Wyatt, but says, "Dan, let's team up."

And so, everyone's paired off. Just in time to not witness the tension spike due to Grayson and Dan, Mr. Spurr steps up and calls for our attention. I can't help looking at the guys. With Wyatt's friendly hand on his shoulder, Grayson looks like he's ready to kill somebody. Hiding behind his arcanine, Dan cowers from his partner who makes no effort to play nice. What a wonderful class we are.

Like there's nothing wrong, Mr. Spurr announces, "Now we're ready to begin our first outside lesson. Your stylers are finally going to see some action after the entrance ceremony, huh?" Not even a cough follows, nor a kricketot's antennae in the wind. "Okay, we'll start with something simple. From each pair, I want one of you to face the post and get ready for a capture. The other person will step to the side and get ready to count. On my mark, the first person will begin capturing the post, and the second will count how many loops they make. Ready?"

He gives us no time to process this. Well, for me, anyway. Alright, these posts must be to practice captures on. The little dongles attached to them probably record a bunch of statistics like loop speed. Well, either way, Julietta pushes me lightly in front of our wooden post and stands far enough away that I probably won't hear her say anything at her normal volume. Guess I'm going first, then.

Without warning, Mr. Spurr blows a whistle signaling start. I hold my styler out and just about shoot the disk out before I hear a chorus of _capture on_s. Oh yeah, protocol and all that. I mutter it quickly and summon the capture disk. It flies out along with everyone else's

Steadfast, I watch my disk and draw a loop counter-clockwise with my styler once it passes the post. My timing can use some work, but I don't think it's the worst thing in the world. The circles I draw are admittedly pretty inconsistent and sloppy, even I can tell, so I put a little more effort into it. There's a reason I never picked up on art.

"Don't focus on precision or speed. Just do it naturally. That's the way it should be!" Mr. Spurr coaches, his voice now full of energy. "Just be aware of your surroundings and don't hit anyone with anything."

Right, that's also a risk. Perfectly timed, the person to my left throws their arm out and almost smacks me in the face. Grin and bear it, just grin and bear it. This surely is a stamina test in more ways than one. Good thing it's not a focus test, seeing as though I don't even try to emulate a top ranger in this so-called capture.

"Okay, that's enough." He blows his whistle again and clicks a button on a stopwatch that hangs around his neck. "Switch positions."

Gladly. Julietta walks over and I nudge her arm as we pass. I take the place she was just standing at and cross my arms. I take a moment to scan the scene. Wyatt steps up, and so does Dan. Those two are all that catch my eye as I try to ignore the ridiculous stance Julietta assumes for her capture, just like the one she did during the entrance ceremony.

"Before I forget, let me make one announcement before we resume." Our teacher comes closer to us and beckons his ninjask to follow. "Let's make this year a little interesting, shall we? I have a challenge for you all: capture Darts."

Dumbfounded once again, I unintentionally say, "And?"

He must have heard me since he adds, "The first person to capture Darts will be exempt from all outdoors class sessions for the remaining school year. They will also be allowed to skip the monthly examinations we'll have on the field. A guaranteed pass, you might say." So freaking cocky. He even smirks. "That is, _if_ you can capture him. But that's enough. Waste class time on it and you won't get the perk even if you do succeed. Are we ready?"

What a proposal. How hard can it be to capture that ninjask? I should give it a shot some time. The whistle breaks me out of my thoughts and I shift my focus to the picture before me.

Julietta does that painful capture of hers, so I just keep her disk in my peripherals to count the loops she makes. Meanwhile, Dan swings his styler with more oomph than I've ever seen him have. In the moment, he's even smiling. Does he think this is his calling, over battles? Sheesh.

And Wyatt? He's whipping his styler around like a pro. Grayson gazes at his partner intensely, a critical eye that tries its best to pierce everything it sees. He silently scrutinizes Wyatt with a very-evident scowl, then stares at the disk and narrows his eyes like he's trying to make the damn thing explode with his mind.

All I know is that this is going to be a long school year.


	5. Ranger Apprenticeship Club

Author's note: And we're back! Many apologies for the long wait. Life got a little messy for a while, but it's better now and I hope to get back on track. I'll aim to update at least once a month. The next chapter up in particular isn't too far off. As is always the case, a big thank you to anyone who's reading this.

* * *

Life goes on, or so people say. Julietta and I drift through the outside club fair to pick our poison. Tessa closely trails behind me, hiding in my shadow from the hot sun as we walk.

"What are you thinking of joining?" Julietta asks in a quiet voice.

"I guess Gardening Club?" Besides the fact that they care for the wooloo, the club offers nothing else of interest. Though it's the least offensive of all of them. "Not much else catches my eye. You?"

"Me? Oh, well…" she trails off, like she does almost every other sentence. Her eyes dart around and don't stop until they land on her own feet. "I'll follow you."

Wasn't she interested in Ranger Apprenticeship Club? I'm not sure whether or not I should take her words at face value, but I don't really care for that club. So I wander over to the teacher standing by a couple of wooloo and join a long line of students waiting to sign a clipboard. Tapping my foot to occupy me somehow, I can't help but zone out.

I come to when the line shortens by five, only because of a ruckus happening in the front. Only then do I notice an arcanine standing beside someone up ahead. From the mostly-straight line, someone stumbles out and ruins the order: Dan. He almost falls, but his partner offers himself as a wall to lean on before it even becomes a prospect. As he regains his balance and as his pale face blazes red so much that I can see it from a ways away, the people that stood behind him move up. Everyone in front of me moves up too, and Dan is left without his spot.

I hesitate as I stare at the fresh distance between my feet and the person in front of me. Meanwhile, Dan stands on visibly quivering legs while clutching onto Bonfire. The people who take his place don't even throw him a smug glance. Then they're not even satisfied in doing that?

Is there such a thing as bullying by exclusion? Whatever it's called, a bubble rises in my throat and I can't bring myself to wave the melting guy down to take the space in front of me. People are treating him like some alien because he's a trainer. That's a fact for sure. If I reach a hand out, I'll be seen the same as him, won't I?

What if people find out about me and Tessa?

So I just freeze. Usually loud and brash (Mom's words, not mine), I keep my mouth shut and conform with the crowd. It sucks, but I bite my tongue. Tessa and Julietta don't react either.

Dan, still holding tight to his arcanine, stumbles away from the Gardening Club line, and everyone acts as though nothing happened. Suddenly, I don't want to join this club anymore. The line of twenty-ish students in wait makes it easy to break away and float elsewhere.

So I do just that. Without a word or change of expression, I sidestep out of the line and turn around. I don't even check if my toxicroak and roommate are following me. I just want to get away from that.

Luckily Julietta does leave with me. Once we get far enough, she taps my shoulder and fiddles with her charm bracelets. "Didn't you want to join that?"

"Nah, don't think it's for me. Gonna get boring after a while." It's not a complete lie, so it comes out naturally. "I'll get sick of it sooner or later." Sooner, as in right now.

"Then where to?" She's so reliant on what I say. I feel really bad now that I think about it.

"Uh…" I spin in place and try to see what kind of club we can possibly join. Music? Sports? Academic? All these options suck. "Let's figure it out together."

Julietta grabs my forearm and gently pulls me with her. With nothing else in mind, I let her navigate us through the flood of students around the area while I use my free arm to drag Tessa along with us. I keep an eye open especially for Dan, who I see no trace of.

"Well…" Julietta trails off after we stop walking at a less busy area of the field. A few strides away is, guess what, the Ranger Apprenticeship Club stand. Mr. Spurr sits at the table with his eyes completely glazed over as he stares into the distance.

I sigh and brace myself. She's going to ask to join this in a very slow and drawn-out way, isn't she? I'm not going to cut her off, so I just listen to her as I look around. The next closest club booth is for the school orchestra. For whatever reason, Grayson's signing up for it. At least we won't see each other more than we have to, then.

Julietta says, "I'm sorry, but I want to join this one."

Huh. She didn't stutter or take long breaths to say that at all. Her hand is clearly in her pocket clutching her styler, so I guess she really means that.

"That's nice, but as for me…" I don't even know what I want from this. Every other club so far hasn't caught my attention, but there's no way I'm joining a club all about being a pokémon ranger. I'm not insane.

A long-lived sigh escapes my lips just as someone else does the same. It's not Julietta, and I know from the sound it's not Tessa. Very quickly I find out that it's Mr. Spurr. In one hand, he twirls a pen, and with the other, he drums the table. A couple of picket signs are stabbed into the earth beside him, each reading his club name. This guy...

Waves of students walk by his table without even looking at him. Some of my classmates pass by and don't even acknowledge that he, their teacher, is there. Some people snicker at him as they go, which I can't tell whether is hurting him or boring him. That candid video of him I watched flashes in my mind for a second before I give it the boot.

I look away and sigh again, hopefully getting my disdain across to Julietta. More power to her that she wants to join that, but I don't see the appeal.

When I look back, Julietta is no longer beside me. To my surprise, she's making her way to our teacher in a modest saunter. I mean, I won't stop her or anything, but color me intrigued at her sudden initiative. Subtly, I slink along with her to try to listen in on what will follow.

"Um, excuse me," she squeaks once she makes it before him.

He snaps his head up, donning a tired smile. "How can I help you, Julietta?"

She twists her hands behind her back and stares at the sign-up sheet smack-dab in the center of the table. Collecting herself, she slowly offers a forced smile and reaches out for the pen set beside the paper. Come on, you can do it.

"I'd like to sign up." Pen now in hand, she bends down and presses the tip to the paper, stray strands of hair falling out from behind her ear. Go, Julietta, go.

Mr. Spurr now bounces in his chair and straightens out his posture. Refreshed, he says, "Then welcome aboard. It'd be an honor to have you." She stands back up as he finishes speaking, pushing the sign-up sheet toward him. He take it and beams. "And congrats on being the very first member of the Ranger Apprenticeship Club!"

Okay, that's just sad. Not one person even entertained the thought of joining? I'm pretty sure this one is the only ranger-related club, too, so that kind of speaks volumes about our teacher, given that we're at a ranger school and all. It's almost too much for me to take, and I step up while reaching out for the pen Julietta holds without even thinking.

Julietta notices me and gasps and smiles. She offers the pen to me and beckons me forth with her free hand. Mr. Spurr locks his sights on me then says, "Eryn, what do you think about joining us?"

In a daze, I just smile and nod, trying not to ask a question that will certainly dim the mood. Julietta wags the pen at me, which I take without even realizing it. The two stare at me while smiling but don't say anything else. So I just nod and step up to move things along. Since he's waiting for a response (for a question that's already gone out my ear), I nod again and say, "Yeah, sure."

"You'll really join?" Julietta asks, not really hiding how happy she is at this.

Put on the spot, I laugh and twirl the pen in my hand. This isn't good. I'm not even sure what's happening anymore, just that my body's gone autopilot. The two are still staring at me expectantly. Come on, what am I supposed to do? "Join? Oh, I'll tag along, sure," I say like I'm waving something off. What I'm even joining is erased from my memory banks.

"Really? That's wonderful! Please, I encourage you to join us." Mr. Spurr motions at the clipboard with an ever-growing grin.

Not thinking, my body moves on its own in quick strides to the table. When I look down at the paper, all I can focus on enough to see is Julietta's name and a bunch of her student information scrawled in her pretty handwriting in several boxes along a row. I laugh again and look to my roommate, who smiles and tilts her head. Why am I blanking out now?

Oh well. What's the worse that can happen if I sign this thing?

I put my signature down in my garbage script last on the sheet. When I step away and hand the pen back to its original owner, my head is now cool and ready to process things properly.

And wow, can I say that I never wished that I could rewind time more than right now.

Ranger Apprenticeship Club? Ugh, how many times have I heard and thought the phrase today? And I joined it? Me? Oh God, why? Tessa, why didn't you stop me? Julietta, why are you so happy? Mr. Spurr, can I get a redo?

Damn. I didn't think playing along with this would go so wrong. I need to break it to Mr. Spurr that I signed it by accident.

Except I can't. Like the sun after the moon compared to how he was before Julietta approached him, he's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, smiling and gleaming with I guess pride. He starts a playful bumping match with his ninjask that I cringe at. Oh God, I've done that with Tessa more than once before. Is that what we looked like? Like a couple of weirdos in a cheesy movie? Bleh.

Like, he's so happy that he got a second person to sign up for his club. Second. Meanwhile every other club has a decent line of students ready and willing to join them. Again, he's the only ranger club here, where the entire population minus me aspires to be a professional ranger. I mean, there really aren't any words to describe it. I'm so tempted to just outright ask him why everyone doesn't take him seriously because this is just ridiculous.

Something within stops me from speaking up and annulling my signature. Do I have such a small and selfish heart? Mr. Spurr is celebrating with Darts like it's Christmas morning because of it.

Well, it's not like I was at gunpoint when I signed, and it surely isn't like I'm joining a cult. Plus, with how excited Mr. Spurr is, maybe he'll manage to show me some stuff about rangers that is actually cool. So all things considered, this is admittedly not the absolute worst thing in the world. Yet. Not the best, though.

Preserving the peace, I hold my tongue and swallow my pride. Not like any other club stood out to me in a bright light back there.

In the time it takes for me to come to terms with this, our teacher tells us something and motions with his hand around the area. Julietta nods to whatever he says and giddily approaches the two picket signs stabbed into the ground. I stand by and watch as she exerts an embarrassing amount of effort trying to unearth them.

Once she uproots the second one, she takes quick steps and holds one out to me while cradling the other. Not even thinking, I take it and copy her stance, holding it tall so that people can see.

Julietta snaps me out of it and quietly says, "After you, please." She hides behind her sign, and since she's kind of small, it works. Can't say as much for me.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts and finally soak in what's around me. On the picket signs are, as I saw earlier, Join Ranger Apprenticeship Club! So I guess we're the advertising goons now. Hooray.

Off to the side and under a tree, Tessa is taking a snooze. No wonder she didn't stop me. Behind us, Mr. Spurr walks in a small circuit and holds the clipboard out to any passing person, none of which even bother looking up at him as they pass by.

But I'm not a fan of running away. So I suck it up and hesitate for just a second before raising my sign in the air and walking ahead. A little dull but still loudly, I say, "Ranger Apprenticeship Club, come join us. Ranger Apprenticeship Club."

Julietta trails behind me as I walk around like an idiot. Aside from the occasional stifled laugh I catch, no one gives me the time of day, as if I were Mr. Spurr. Okay, this is getting to be too much. Just associating with him puts me on the same level as him to my peers? Give me a break. My mind wanders back to Dan. So if I associate with him, I would be treated just as badly as he is for sure? Good to know…

Alrighty, now just for the sake of the principle of the matter, I will put some effort into this, I will. Pushing it out of my head, I march on and belt out, "Let's have fun at Ranger Apprenticeship Club! Come on!"

Would it be any surprise that at the end of the day, the club member count stayed at two?

**~X~**

Mr. Spurr proposed that we start club activities today. Julietta jumped at the chance when he suggested it to us before we ended our fruitless advertising campaign yesterday. Since I have nothing better to do, I find myself standing beside my roommate on the capture field we were on during our outdoors class waiting for our teacher.

Julietta stands like a soldier while clutching her capture styler tightly in one hand. Stopping us from falling into an awkward silence, Mr. Spurr approaches us with a huge grin. "Welcome, girls. I'm glad you could make it."

We both nod, one clearly more motivated than the other, but he accepts it. Julietta asks, "What are we going to do?"

"Let's start with a short drill. Each of you, take to a capture post and begin on my mark." It's then that I notice the notepad he has in hand.

"Right." Julietta all but salutes. She skips over to a post like a diligent and enthusiastic student while I waltz over and take the post next to hers. I pull my styler out and aim it well enough.

"Ready and…" He gives a dramatic pause and kind of chuckles in good spirits. At least he's having fun with this. Though I have this feeling that he's staring at me in particular. "Start!"

As per his instruction, I launch my capture disk and take a stance to brace myself. Julietta, however, says, "Capture on!"

Oh yeah, that's a thing. Only then does she begin, making me realize my slip-up. I forgot to say it during our outdoors class, and now I forget to say it right in front of my instructor. Big whoops. That's probably not good practice. Oh well.

I draw ten sloppy loops when Mr. Spurr calls, "Time!" He makes a motion with his hand beckoning us to him.

When we huddle up in a triangle, I feel this heavy dread inside of me. Yeah, I'm not good at taking criticism, and I just know I'm going to get a whole lot of it right now. At a grunt, I look over to my left where Tessa and Ophelia are nudging each other kind of aggressively. Please don't cause trouble again, man.

"Alright, I've seen enough. Let's just call that a short warm-up. I've actually got feedback from what I saw of you two from yesterday's class, but wanted to wait until the next class to give it to you in a short written report. I suppose it can't hurt to just tell you girls right now." He adjusts his baseball cap to cover the sun gleaming right on his eye and punches a page of his notepad. "But I think I'd like to hear your thoughts first."

Prompted by Julietta stuttering, I ask, "What does that mean?"

Mr. Spurr gives an encouraging smile. "You two paired up yesterday, right? Then you've seen each others' capture styles. So I'd like each of you to say some things that you noticed about the other's method, good and bad." For emphasis, he moves his arms like a balance scale. "This is all about learning and honing our skills, so don't be afraid to make mistakes."

Rather hopeful and deep conversation we're having right now. Much more meaningful than I thought it was going to go, at least. I can't really place it, though; Mr. Spurr's passion lulls and spikes whenever it wants.

Neither of us jump to speak. Goading us forth, he says, "Why don't you go first, Eryn?"

I give a light laugh before Julietta looking at me with large eyes while clutching her styler to her chest shuts me up. I don't think I should hit her very hard with this. But I struggle to come up with anything to say at all about her capture style since I know she's already better than I am at it. Grasping at straws, I say, "Um, the way you hold your styler…"

"Uh-huh," she hums as she tilts her head. Ah, don't make it harder for me to say, damn it.

Definitely should have started with a compliment. "It's just, do you have to hold it like that?"

"Why? What do you mean?"

"I mean, it looks… painful," I manage to say.

Unlike I thought she would, Julietta doesn't flinch at my "criticism" and instead readies an answer. "Does it? I don't want to drop it or accidentally throw it, so I hold it close and tight."

Such a simple answer? Ask and I did receive. "Wear a wrist strap?" I suggest.

"There's no notch for one." She lifts her styler up and looks it over completely.

Mr. Spurr steps in with a clearly forced chuckle. "Eryn, I'm glad you're worried about Julietta's safety, but do you have any real criticism to give her? Is there anything else you want to add to that?"

He really does see through my painful display. The fact that he said real makes it clear. I mean, at least he's a good teacher, I guess. Honestly, I say, "Not really. She was super good. Amazing, better than me."

My teacher crosses his arms and wears a blank face. I slipped up, didn't I? Mr. Spurr faces Julietta and says, "You did do a nice capture, but I did see room for improvement." Quite the studious student, Julietta nods and accepts his comments. "I'll piggyback off of Eryn's note, actually. I'm not worried about your safely with it so much as I am about how it impacts your capturing ability."

"How so?"

"It's an unnatural stance, and although it seems to be comfortable to you, it would be better if you took the conventional one. Straighten your back to ease tension, keep your legs exactly a shoulder width apart for balance, take steady breaths instead of holding it for focus and stamina, and hold your styler with one hand extended a full arm's length away from you to control loop radius and speed on command."

Instead of crumpling under pressure or embarrassment like I thought she would, Julietta soaks in every word he says and gives him a small salute. "Yes, sir."

Wow, though, he had all that to say just from her stance? I wouldn't have ever thought of any of that to say in a million years. I definitely don't have a spot on his gold star chart, do I?

Not batting an eye, Mr. Spurr continues, "And I think a lot of small technical issues I noticed from your captures could be fixed by just doing that. Try it out and see. But it definitely isn't ever a wrong or bad choice to do whatever's most comfortable to you, alright? If it works better, then don't force yourself."

Look at him, the ranger guru. Oh no, he's looking at me now. I try to deflect attention and say, "Keep it up, Julietta."

"Alright, now what could Eryn have done differently?" Damn it. It was inevitable, but still, come on. Immediately Julietta hums to buy time, but Mr. Spurr doesn't really give her a chance to say anything. "I actually have something I would like to ask you first."

I nod and pretend that I'm unfazed. In all honesty, how serious he is kind of scares me. "Shoot."

"Why are you at this school?" Straight through the heart with a silver bullet. He really doesn't waste time when it comes to rangers, doesn't he? "It doesn't seem like you're all too motivated to be here, and that's not going to fly."

Awkward silence fills the air as I don't answer and heat rises to my cheeks. Am I that obvious? He's already got me figured out, it seems. No lie comes to mind that easily, and no truth will satisfy this guy. "Uh…"

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to. I just want you to think about it because if you're not ready to give your all in this club, I don't think this is the place for you." That's ignoring how I'm here by complete accident. "Being a ranger isn't all fun and games. I want to see a passion to learn and grow while you're here. Otherwise, I will have to ask you to join a different club. Please take this seriously, okay?"

Dead serious, alright. The embarrassment from this is enough to seal that deal. So he's that type of teacher.

Because my pride won't let me shrink any further, I take a breath and recollect myself. I suck at being a ranger? Fine, I'll improve to not be a loser at the very least. Aye aye, sir. "Got it." My words ring a tad hollow, but I refuse to be known as the worst ranger this school has ever seen, which it feels like I am right now. So teach me, oh wise Mr. Spurr. Show me whatever fire you want inside me. God knows I don't know.

"Julietta, is there anything you want to add?" He gets a head shake in response. Thanks for sparing my feelings, though I have a feeling that she agrees very much with what he said.

Clapping once to clear the air, Mr. Spurr relaxes and loses the intimidating and critical aura he just had. Now he strikes a thinking pose and makes me remember that he's not too much older than me. Given his job right now, he must have always wanted to be a ranger. I still find it impossible that anyone willingly wants to be a pokémon ranger, but the two people right in front of me have straight-up said otherwise.

Tessa comes up to me and headbutts my arm in boredom. Oh, if only things could speed up right now. I bump her with my hip, which she returns trying to start something. I'll admit, I fall for her bait easily and we shoot dirty and smug looks at each other, completely ignoring the others around us.

A crisp snap comes from Mr. Spurr's fingers. I keep my ears open for what he'll say, but don't switch my gaze from my toxicroak. Tessa won the last staring match we had; I'm not losing this one. He clears his throat and says, "Now let's focus on our capturing skills.I have an idea I'd like to try out, and I think it'll get your interest, Eryn. A challenge of sorts."

At my name, I reluctantly throw my white flag at Tessa. "Yeah?"

"Step up, please." He waves his hand for me to follow him. Julietta and I share a confused shrug. Darts, who I forgot was here since he has yet to bother Tessa, flies overhead and lands on his partner's raised elbow like a bird.

Now I'm facing away from the capture posts and toward the open field. Tessa leans against my legs, hiding in my shadow seeking shelter from the still-bright sun like she usually does. Her rough dry skin scrapes against my calf. Mr. Spurr holds a smile and faces Julietta. "I'm sorry, but let's let Eryn have the first shot"

She nods and pumps her fists by her cheeks in very small motions as if to cheer me on. Well, I do need all the help I can get right now. I ask, "What exactly is going to happen?"

His ninjask takes flight and launches into the air in an instant. What a fast little nuisance. Tessa and I can only dream of her being that fast. Mr. Spurr laughs a little, probably since he can see us in awe. Darts shoots around in a circle above us, practically invisible with his speed. I know I'm gawking at the display. Tessa's probably doing so too. Wonder what that bother can do on a battlefield. Did Mr. Spurr train him to do that?

"I'll issue the first mission of this club to you first, Eryn." Before either of us asks, he adds, "Every time we meet up for club, I'll give you two a mission to complete before we end the meeting, just to give this a bit of a professional flavor. Today, your mission will be this: to attempt a capture on Darts. This extends to both of you, and I definitely would like to see you working together to complete these. But, I'd like Eryn to take the first shot for this one."

Right, sure, but I hesitate before readying my styler. "Wait, isn't that the challenge you gave to the class?"

"Indeed it is." With his hands behind his back, Mr. Spurr bounces on his heels cheekily.

"So if I-"

"Yes, if you successfully capture him, you get a free pass from outdoor classes for the rest of the semester. Just give it a try," he says so lackadaisically that I know there's a catch to this.

"Okay," I sing. I hold my capture styler up aimed at Darts and almost press the button to release the disk. But before I do so, Julietta clears her throat really loudly. Automatically, I glance her way, and when I do, she points at her lips and mouths a couple words. Ah, good catch. I have to thank her later. "Uh, capture on."

My disk shoots out and homes in on Darts. Easy peasy. Maybe Mr. Spurr is a little bit of a joke if he thinks this is going to be that hard.

"To capture Darts, you just have to draw five complete loops around him." Just five? Even I can do that. "Your styler will record how many complete circles you draw around a pokémon so there's no he-said-she-said."

The distance between the ninjask and my disk halves in an instant and I can taste victory already. It passes him and I throw my hand to the left. The disk follows and draws a glowing arc behind Darts and quickly circles around. Then it hits the trail it left behind and closes the first loop. That's one…

Except it's not. I lift my styler up to draw another loop but stop upon noticing something off, something not there: Darts. I finished one loop, but it wasn't one around him, it seems. What a waste of effort. The screen display on my styler shows a big fat zero with Loop Count in small letters above the number.

Behind me, Tessa croaks and yanks on the back of my vest. I turn around and come face-to-face with a pair of huge red eyes. So unexpected, the shock almost makes me jump back. "What the-"

"Don't take this too easily, Eryn." Mr. Spurr crosses his arms. "Ninjask are known for their speed."

"I can see that," I mutter under my breath. To cover up my fail, I call my capture disk back and load it into my styler with little error. Readying myself, I say, "Capture on."

This time, before the disk even leaves my styler, Darts is gone. Tessa doesn't give me any sign that she sees him either. Mr. Spurr calls out, "You only have to say that when you begin your capture attempt, not every time you relaunch your disk. Also, look up."

Good to know. Though now that I think about it, he probably mentioned that in class when we went over basic protocol and I was zoning out. Oops. Though I have admit, the way Mr. Spurr's instructing right now isn't too bad. I can keep up with this.

Anyway, straight above me is Darts, the little shit. He literally flies circles in the air, taunting me. You have to be kidding me. How is this not easy? Capturing this annoying little ninjask? How could this possibly be tripping me up?

With a little more care than my previous attempts, I shoot my capture disk out at Darts. The sun blinds me as I try to see him, but I just grit my teeth and bear it. Come on, there's no way I'm failing this capture. I'm not that pathetic. When the disk runs around Darts and comes a split second close to finishing loop one, I flinch my arm right. 20 percent through this mission… or not so much.

Darts, who had just been lazily flying laps in the air, suddenly dives ahead, straight through my capture disk's trail. He breaks the line and shoots back to hovering beside Mr. Spurr. The disk halts to a dead stop, then falls straight down like dead weight.

"When a capture line is broken, the energy inside the capture disk is momentarily stalled since they are directly connected. So your disk will cease functions for a short moment. Get ready to call it back or go pick it up and launch it again." I don't think he's gotten to this topic in class yet. Guess this is how club will go down. "Basically, don't break the line, if that wasn't clear."

I would laugh, but Darts irritates me so. A bit curious, I ask, "What if the disk gets hit?"

That was something I crammed for the school entrance exam a month ago then promptly let leak out of my head once I put my pencil down. Thankfully he answers without even raising an eyebrow. "Take enough damage and your capture disk will break. No disk, no capture, and that spells disaster… on serious missions." Gee, a rhyme to remember. "Stylers and disks work as one system, so your styler can and will short-circuit with enough damage done."

"Can't you use multiple?" I ask as I launch my disk again, hopefully diverting attention from any flub.

"Depends on the make and model styler you have, but most aren't capable of controlling two different disks. That requires really advanced tech." He finishes just as Darts slashes my disk back at me. "And some models deliver an electric shock to you through your styler when the disk or capture line is hurt, so don't be too careless."

"Whose bright idea was that?" I grumble as I reload my disk.

"Certain stylers are more powerful in capturing than others, so there must be a tradeoff to prevent an abuse of power. The shock is just one of many mechanisms to it. Though there are older models where that shock is due to faulty wiring." He scratches the back of his neck at that. "The older ones have a pretty nasty voltage."

Ha, then he got shocked by one before. I don't even get any angrier when Darts cuts my capture line right after it leaves my styler because it's that funny. "And you know how?" I sing to tease, lost in the moment.

"Knowing this, please don't get too spoiled on these non-shocky student stylers you'll have during your time here at school. Oh, and breaking your disks means a penalty." He holds a hand up signaling me to stop just as I point my styler at Darts again. "But I'm very glad that you're taking an interest in stylers, Eryn. Do you want to be a base mechanic, by chance?"

"What? No?" Actually, I don't want to be stuck fiddling with capture stylers all day, thank you very much.

"I think it'd be good for you if I quizzed you on this later, yeah?"

"Aw, what?" It comes out without thinking. Well, can you blame me? What kind of club gives quizzes? Immediately I cover for myself and say, "No thanks."

"Well, little tests here and there aren't set in stone, but don't be surprised if they do happen." Mr. Spurr jots something down in his notepad and smiles in a way that completely negates the ambiguity of his sentence. Might as well have joined Quiz Bowl Club, then. He doesn't miss a beat and says, "Alright Julietta, give it a try."

Julietta comes up beside me and prepares for her capture. I take a step back and breathe, shaking my right arm. It's gone pretty numb from being held up in the air and trying to follow Darts as he shot to and fro.

"Capture on!" She holds her styler like our teacher just suggested her to. Her disk flies at Darts and almost makes it past him. Almost. He drifts and inch over and acts as a wall that it runs into. Once the disk falls, he flies away and buzzes up a storm.

Tessa croaks loud as hell, and for whatever reason Ophelia croons alongside her. Is he pissing them off on purpose? What an ass. Mr. Spurr, control your partner!

Before Tessa gets a chance to launch an attack at the jerk, Julietta's disk passes by him and wraps around in a tight circle. But, like with my attempt, he shoots ahead and breaks the line in his escape.

"Aw," Julietta groans. She pouts and bites her thumb nail.

"You got this," I cheer. She has a better chance of capturing him than me.

Or maybe not so much. I spend the next five minutes watching her flail her arm around as Darts darts around in the air like a jerk and never even gives her a chance to get her hopes up like he did for me.

Mr. Spurr announces, "You can join in, Eryn."

Not sure how much help I'll be, but at least it won't be as embarrassing since Julietta's not faring any better. Julietta reloads her styler when I step up to the plate, and we launch our disks together. And in one swipe of his claw, Darts sends them falling down. Can he humor us for a minute?

"Come on, you little-"

"This isn't fair," Julietta whines, and I can't agree more. Is he loaded on sugar right now or something? Ninjask are fast, that's a fact, but this is getting a little absurd.

With a snap, Mr. Spurr calls Darts back down to him. His bug pal perches on his shoulder as he walks up to us. Having put a little too much effort into that capture, Julietta's hunched over and taking deep breaths. I myself am quite steamed. What his deal? Pisses off Tessa, pisses off me…

"Okay, with that, I'll say mission complete, girls." Gee, how inspirational, teach, tell me more. "That was a valiant effort, but it looks like Darts got away from you both."

Julietta and I look at each other and don't respond. Eventually I say, "Is that all?"

"For today, why not. Let's end club early today, and I'll see you on Monday." Mr. Spurr smiles with satisfaction. At what, I can only imagine. "Remember the notes I gave you both and always try to think of ways to improve. I have high hopes for you two."

High hopes for Julietta, not so much for me, probably. Why I'm even at this school? I'd like someone to tell me that.


	6. A Champion's Gift

A knocking at the dorm door tears my eyes away from a past Hoenn championship match playing on my laptop. I shut the thing closed as the person outside knocks again. I jump off my bed, almost waking a lightly napping Tessa, and open the door. A man pushing around a trolley loaded with packages and letters holds two cardboard boxes in his hands. On the front of both is a piece of paper with _Dorm 17_ and either my or Julietta's first name scrawled on it.

I catch on to what this is and hold my arms out to receive what is mine. The man wordlessly hands the boxes over and tips his hat. Before retreating back inside, I say, "Thank you."

These look much less heavy than they actually are, so I end up dropping the boxes on the floor right after I bump the door closed with my hip. The bigger box, the one with my name on it, lands with a heavy thud and lets out some metal rattling while the smaller one on top doesn't seem affected at all. Well, I hope I didn't get sent anything fragile.

I place Julietta's much lighter package next to the mystery water basin she still has beside her bed and drag my own to the foot of my bed. Tessa slowly sits up beside me at the ruckus I cause (mainly exaggerated grunting because she doesn't move to help my lug the damn box over despite being well capable of doing it). With no grace, I plop down and slouch over to attempt to open this thing.

"Little help," I more than suggest as I tug at a cardboard flap held down by tape. No response. So I move my arms to get a better grip and give another big yank that garners me nothing. This tape is that really thin type that can't simply be peeled off by picking at the edges. There aren't any box cutters around as far as I know, so I don't have much to work with. "If only a certain someone would lend a hand."

Tessa snorts and gives her version of a cackle as I let go of the box and stand up to stretch and pant. Yeah, I wore myself out trying to open this thing. What of it? "This is probably from Mom and Dad. If they packed us anything nice, I'm bogarting it all."

At this, Tessa jumps off the bed and tries to take the box from me. I act quick and drop down to kneel and hug it so that she can't get any access. She grabs it by a corner with her super strength and dents the cardboard in. "Now you're helping. Aren't we altruistic," I tease.

We pull on the package back and forth, back and forth for a good few minutes. I almost let go a couple times because my arm is still pretty stiff and tired from yesterday's club meet. Darts, curse you. But I completely let go once I hear the door open.

In steps Julietta dabbing her hair with a towel. Ophelia, who was napping the whole time that I forgot she was here, perks up and greets her partner. As Tessa nearly topples over after yanking the box with no resistance, I say, "Morning."

"Good morning. Are these packages from home?" Her words drop slower with each syllable as she warily approaches hers.

"Yeah, must be. They said the first Sunday of every month is mail day, right?" In some letter or handout from school, I must have seen this information. Families can send things to students living in the dorms throughout the year that get delivered at a specified date.

"Oh." That's all Julietta says as she picks up her package and holds it an arm's distance away. Strange, but I don't comment.

"You haven't opened it yet?" I stare incredulously at Tessa, who's trying to pull the box flaps out like I was. "Use your claws! Just don't shoot poison out like last time."

Eureka moment gone and passed, my toxicroak stabs her right claw into the flap split, through the unnecessarily strong tape, and rips the box open. "Finally."

Giggling in the background makes me look up. It's Julietta, who's watching us while trying to hide the fact. Well, I won't deny that Tessa and I can make a successful comedy duo somewhere in the world.

"Okay, let's see what we got." I push Tessa away and open the box up. The first thing I feel inside is a wide tube with a plastic cap on top. "Oh. For you." It comes out flat. I pull what I touched out and hold it right in front of Tessa's face. She grabs it and shakes it at me expectantly.

"What is that? Pokémon food?" Julietta leans closer to try to see the label.

"Yeah. Looks new. Think that's the new flavor and you're testing it out again?" I pull out several other cans of food from the box and stack them neatly on the floor.

"Huh?" Julietta tilts her head and hums.

Only then do I realize that she definitely doesn't know what I'm talking about. "Oh, my parents run a pokémon care product business. They specialize in deliciously nutritious health food. My dad mass-produces the stuff and my mom comes up with the recipes. She likes to test new treats out on Tessa since she's got an iron stomach." She once ate a bowl of tamato berries for no reason and didn't get sick or spiced out. I give her props for that.

Julietta makes a noise of intrigue and kneels beside me to examine the food labels. "_Treats that Winnet_? Winnet? Win… it?"

"Please don't comment." Even my parents admit that the pun name was a bad idea. But business took off, so it's too late to change it.

"It sounds familiar."

"Should be, at least around Reveriena."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" I contemplate telling her this story, but don't see any reason not to. There's a spray bottle inside that catches my eye, which I pull out as I say, "We're originally from Sinnoh. My parents were born there, I was born there, and the business was based there for the longest time."

"Uh-huh." She nods diligently.

"The company got enough traction to send and sell products in a number of other regions, though in much smaller amounts than in Sinnoh. That's where the trouble came in." I pull a card that happens to be in the box out and read it aloud. "_The new food and spray bottle are for Tessa. Snacks are for sharing. Money is for you. Call us once in a while! And have fun_." Oh, Mom.

"Trouble?" Julietta tilts her head. Guess I am talking to her like my parent's business' history is common knowledge. Which it isn't.

"Yeah, they were barely breaking even in Sinnoh. But when they compared their numbers to other regions, it was clear that they needed to relocate their base of operations." I sigh long and hard. "Which is why we moved here to Reveriena a short while ago."

"Why's that?"

Reading through the labels on the other containers of pokémon food I took out, my eyes settle on one which I pick up and offer to Julietta. "Take this one." Tessa growls but stops when I elbow her and nod at the cramorant in the room. We can be civil and nice. "For Ophelia."

"Oh, really? We can just have this?" At my nod, she takes it in both hands and smiles warmly. "Thank you so much!"

Coming back to her question, I say, "My parents' food did so much better in non-competitive regions than it did in regions where there are trainer gyms. We know for a fact that it's because of battle culture. Their food is nutritious and healthy, but it's not loaded with supplements and junk that encourage growth of strength like that."

That's the one jab I'll have against trainers. Mom and Dad's food is awesome, and they put a lot of love in it. Tessa can vouch for that. Her diet consists mainly of my parents' food because she prefers the taste. She gets most of her strength from physical training, so we're not too bothered about the supplement thing. She downs a protein shake every now and then for good measure too.

I continue, "So trainers buy food from other businesses that lend themselves to battle culture. With that, my parents made the savvy move to relocate to Reveriena, the closest non-battle-focused region to Sinnoh. They really tried to make things work back home, which is why we changed locale only recently."

And so ends my story of coming to Reveriena. Man, does it suck even more recalling it than living it.

"It must have been hard uprooting all of a sudden just for your parents' work." Julietta clasps my shoulder. Her sympathies almost bring a tear to my eye, but honestly, just focusing on the moving aspect, I don't miss much from Sinnoh. Besides battling, I didn't have anything going for me there. Friends came and went and I had yet to set off on my journey, so there wasn't anything to regret leaving behind. School life wasn't too glamorous either.

"Eh, it's already done." Behind me, I can hear Tessa emptying out a whole tube of food into her mouth. These containers are pretty big, so she'll have to really try to eat it all. "You better savor that." Groaning, Tessa stops herself from dumping another greedy handful into her mouth.

"Ophelia, come try some." Julietta sweetly offers a pellet of food to her partner. Man, their dynamic is like the exact opposite of mine and Tessa's.

"Tessa, get over here," I say once I read the label on the spray bottle my parents sent.

"What is that?" Julietta bounces on her heels.

"For Tessa. She has dry skin, and I guess my parents finished developing this special water meant to treat and soothe it." My toxicroak jumps at the chance and stands with her back to me. I shake the bottle and take aim. "Let's see."

A fine mist shoots out of the nozzle all over Tessa's rough back. If this works, I won't have to worry about her rubbing against me and scratching me when we sleep in the same bed. At the contact, Tessa shivers and lets out a low croak. Reluctantly, I take my free hand and touch her now-moist skin, rubbing the solution in for maximum effect.

"You can use this." Julietta holds a handkerchief out which I decline.

"Nah, this is probably more efficient. If not grosser…" Tessa tries to kick me as I say this.

"You sure care about her." Stifling a giggle, Julietta sits down on her bed and hugs Ophelia close to her.

"If you say." I won't say that out loud. "What's in your package?" All that's left in mine is a few bags of sweets and an envelope probably filled with money.

"Yeah, I wonder." She picks at the tape holding the box closed.

I continue to rub the spray water into Tessa's skin as I watch Julietta crack open her package. She pulls out a letter in a sealed envelope and doesn't give it a first glance before tossing it to the side. Then she pinches some fabric in her hands and lifts it, unfurling a zip-up sweater.

But that's not just any sweater. I know for damn sure. The big fat _621_ printed on the back, the appletun crosshatching drawn like runerigus lines atop rainbow-swirl-alcremie-colored fabric that should look like a fashion disaster but isn't, the unusual length that goes down to the knees...

"That's a Yulianna Iomi sweater!" I exclaim without warning. "How do you have that?" Spray water from my hand flings at my roommate when I suddenly point at her.

"Huh?" Julietta drops the sweater on her bed and dusts her hands on her dress. "A what?"

"A sweater that Yulianna Iomi the Galarian runner-up designed based on her team and jersey! She wears it every match on top. These are meant to be in stores months from now. I preordered one a while ago. Who gave this to you?" My words come out rapid fire. I slowly approach her with hands held up, very tempted to touch it. Oh, how I adore Yulianna. She along with the current Galar champ have been my top idols for the past couple years, but she's just edged out by the champ Dominic due to his battle prowess. But Yulianna's fashion trendsetting and charisma can't be ignored. She's one of those people that have _that_ kind of aura.

"You're a fan, then?" Julietta visibly steps away from me at this. Aw, I need to cover this up.

"Uh, just her fashion. I mean, this is a damn good-looking sweater, ain't it?" Try to segue out of the runner-up comment… "I wanted it the moment I saw the ad for it. She looked so cool. Apparently she got an offer to recreate and sell the design since she made the original herself, and since she's so popular in-"

My fangirling puts an end to itself as Julietta laughs uncomfortably. Probably best to shut up now, huh? Ophelia clamps her beak around an arm of the sweater, and I force myself not to chase her off from the practically sacred swag. Julietta picks her cramorant up and hugs her close again. "If you like it so much, then you can have it."

"Huh?" Whoa, this is too surreal! An angel, you're an angel, my dear Julietta! Except, why? "Are you sure about that? This thing was super expensive to preorder and have exported out of Galar. And what about whoever sent it to you?"

"I don't really care," she says in a calm, small voice. "It doesn't mean that much to me. Think of it as a trade for the pokémon food. Ophelia loves it."

"Uh, well…" You know what people say about things that are too good.

"Plus it doesn't fit my style." She places Ophelia on her bed and picks up the letter that came in her package. With an expressionless face, she throws the envelope into her top dresser drawer, which I think has another unopened letter that I caught glimpse of when I was unpacking before the entrance ceremony. "I don't think I would ever wear something like this."

True enough, I suppose. Julietta wears really cute and pretty dresses and accessories, and styles her hair to boot. Though I've noticed that aside from her uniform and jewelry, her clothing is really muted in color. All soft hues that don't naturally draw attention, like I would describe her as. Her actual clothing seems like a cross between Kalosian and Galarian style to me, kind of frilly and stylish but modest and casual. I don't know the fashion terms, whatever. This sweater is pretty loud and screams in vibrant colors, _Check me out. I got this_.

But where did whoever sent this get it? Like I said, it's not to be sold for a while. They must have jumped through a bunch of hoops to get it, then. Then why would Julietta give it up so easily? This is such a thoughtful and cool gift. Is it just because it doesn't blend in with her wardrobe? I hold myself back and try to convince myself that waiting will make this sweater all the more worthwhile to me. "Even so, I don't think I can accept something like this."

"Eryn, I will throw this out if you don't take it. I really don't want to look at this eyesore."

"Ouch."

She thinks it's that ugly? Yulianna fanboys and girls (not including me) have a bone to pick with her now. I'm no fashionista, but it looks really damn cool to me. But, Julietta's attitude to it kind of makes me not want to take it from her now.

"There's no reason why I would want to keep this thing made by that, that trainer." She spits the last word out like I've heard most everyone else here in Reveriena do. "She thinks running around, doing a stupid gym challenge is fun? She's insane."

"Y'know, trainers…" I trail off and reign myself in. I guessed that Julietta doesn't like trainers, but this is a little more vitriol than I thought she'd have. "I mean, I'll wait for mine to get here in the mail."

"Take. It." Julietta flings it across the room, where it lands beside Tessa lounging on her side with her still-moist back airing out while watching our back-and-forth. "Give it to Tessa or something, then. You can be twinsies when you get the one you bought."

Hesitating just a bit, I say, "You won't even try it on and see? Forget who made it and just see it as a normal sweater. I think it'll look really cute on you."

"No thank you. You try it on." She doesn't meet my gaze. "I don't want to talk about this anymore, sorry."

A solid minute passes before I move. Just because a trainer designed this? Woof. Sad thing is that I'd bet good money that there are a bunch of other people who share the sentiment.

Tessa holds the sweater out to me and croaks like it's heavier than a snorlax. I take it and fold it up, then pack it into my side of the dresser drawers wordlessly. The air's still pretty heavy, and I suddenly don't feel like being cooped up inside right now.

"I'm gonna go for a walk." I get a hum in response from my roomie. My toxicroak jumps up to join me after grabbing a small bag with my wallet in it instinctively. Then we slip out of the dorm in absolute silence.

When I close the door, I make it three steps before I hear muffled shouting from back inside. "What is wrong with you? How dare you send me that garbage of all things? Are you even trying to apologize? You're just doing this to make yourself feel better!"

Reluctantly, I try to wipe that from my mind and let Tessa drag me away. That's none of my business.

**~X~**

We jump off a bus at a stop just outside the heart of Hionit City where the streets aren't too crowded. I'm trying my best to forget about the exchange I had with Julietta, but it just won't leave my head.

Various cafes and small storefronts line the street we're on. Maybe we should have rode to Haven Avenue and gone to the mall with the batting cages. Bowling is also an option there. Great, now I want to see Tessa granny-throwing a bowling ball since she definitely can't hold one properly.

"Off to adventure," I sing under my breath and look around. Tessa stands beside me with a blank face. Man, if we were in Sinnoh, we could probably catch a random street battle just around the corner. Or go to a battle cafe. Or heck, even attend a contest; some contest battles are pretty rad.

"Is there an arcade or something around here?" I don't get to look around as Tessa marches on ahead of me. "Hey, wait up."

As I quicken my pace to catch up, I note that her back has yet to crack despite the sun roasting us right now. Then that spray Mom and Dad sent works like a charm. I pull my phone out to text Mom about it, then remember what she wrote in the card. I'll call her about it later instead.

"You right there, stop," a commanding voice calls behind me.

What now? I pat my hoodie pocket and feel Tessa's poké ball tucked inside, so no one should have seen it. I've gotten pulled over by rangers so many times just for having it out when I first moved here, and they went down just like this. This sucks. What the hell menace does a freaking poké ball pose?

Humoring myself, I stop walking, raise my hands in false surrender, and whistle to get Tessa to come back to me. Footsteps pound behind me at an arrhythmic pace. Heavy breaths come from the person as well, so they can't be in the greatest shape. Eventually someone comes up, but they don't stop at me.

The guy keeps running (walking slightly fast?) ahead, completely ignoring me. Tessa sneers at him and I do too. He's all decked out in a complete ranger uniform, so he must be someone on patrol. But, well, he's pretty old and kind of big. His hair is mostly gray with splotches that seem like failed hair dye attempts, and he has a noticeable beer belly. This guy is a ranger? Not only that, but his uniform has an extra sash on it, so he must be in a higher position. A ranger who looks like he can barely run a block without keeling over is meant to protect this city?

Still unnoticed, I throw caution to the wind and decide to entertain myself. I follow the old ranger to see what criminal caught his attention. Unsurprisingly enough, I catch up to the guy rather quickly. He stops at a street corner, so I hug the wall of the building he stands before to eavesdrop. Tessa follows me, nonplussed.

"Why do you think you have there, sonny?" the old ranger asks. I try to get a glimpse of the guy he "cornered" and is now interrogating.

"I'm sorry, are you referring to my poké balls?" says the person, a man wearing a belt of poké balls, in a voice that makes me slap a hand over my mouth to prevent a squeal.

I finally get a good look at the guy and feel weightless. White gloves, white suit, a dusknoir beside him… Through my fingers, I whisper, "Dominic Viktor."

Tessa reacts at the name and tries to get a look too. It is him. Galar champion two years running that absolutely wrecks shop on the battlefield. His stratagems are only matched by how powerful his partners are, especially Herald, that dusknoir beside him. I don't believe it. What's he doing in podunk Reveriena?

The old ranger huffs and says, "Yes, that is what I'm referring to. I'm going to have to-"

Dominic holds a hand up. "I apologize, but I've already been stopped by a ranger for this earlier, and I'll tell you the same thing I told her: poké balls aren't illegal in this region. I'm not doing anything wrong, so I'll be going on my merry way and will not make any effort to hide my poké balls." He adjusts his gloves. "I don't see why you had the need to stop me for this. Reveriena surely is much less welcoming than Galar."

My hero times infinity!

The old ranger stammers and his previously pale face turns bright red in anger. "Trainers like you really make a mess of things. You oughta-"

"Skedaddle? I will." Dominic runs a hand through his long-ish hair.

This guy seems to always have a sassy quip to make, and I love him for that. He even makes puns in the heat of battle. Seriously. I can't help but giggle after he says that, but regret it immediately.

"Kid, what do you think you're doing?' The ranger walks up to me and points a finger.

"Whoa, what?" Of all the things that can happen, this sucks the most. Getting accosted by this old fart, right in front of the Galar champ…

"You children need to learn respect." We're at least young adults, man. Before Tessa can do anything worth regretting, I hold her hand and try to ignore the churning poison sac. The ranger continues, "I am the Hionit City Ranger Base leader and I'll have you know-"

"I don't think either of us are above the law, so practice what you rangers preach and keep the peace, my good man." Dominic struts up and holds a hand out between us, keeping distance. Thank God.

"That attitude of yours is going to get you in trouble one day, boy." With that, the ranger leader turns around and walks away with uneven steps, already out of breath.

"Pfft, what a joke," Dominic says once he's out of earshot. He puts a hand on my head and kind of pets me. "I wouldn't worry about that guy if I were you."

"Amen to that," I breathlessly say. He's really talking to me. Me.

"You alright?" He turns slightly and bends his knees to get a better look at Tessa. "She your partner?"

"Yeah to both. And you're Dominic Viktor."

He freezes for a moment before grinning. "And how would you know that?"

"Because you're"— I lower my volume to avoid attention—"You're the Galar champ. It's such an honor to meet you. I'm, we're huge fans."

His eyes widen before he collects himself. Herald crosses his arms and just hovers next to his partner. "Oh, thank goodness, someone I can talk to."

"Right?" Just act cool.

"You won't believe how I've been treated here. Left and right I get called out like that."

"I know the feeling."

"Ageist little shits too."

"Huh?" Okay, that catches me off guard. What's that supposed to mean? I almost glaze over that comment by asking a question that immediately pops into my head, but instead say, "Come again?"

"Nah, just a pattern I noticed. Did you catch on to how he referred to us whippersnappers?" He rolls his eyes and shimmies his shoulders at his last word. "Sonny, kid, pretty demeaning stuff since we're not even so young, right? Also, the majority of rangers I've seen so far are at least 40-plus. Just an observation."

Mr. Spurr comes to mind. "Young Gun Damien" is his embarrassing nickname? Hoo boy, didn't think rangers could be so self-righteous or whatever. Choosing not to linger on that internal conflict BS, I say, "Why are you even here in Reveriena? And shouldn't you be dressed a little more discreet?"

Smirking for just a second, he replies, "Just bringing some fun to my old stomping grounds."

_Stomping grounds_, he calls it? No, I know that he's not a Galar native, but seriously? "Your home region is here? Here?"

"Yup. And it's cute that you think I should wear a disguise or something. Me, treated like a celebrity in this region? Ha, try nobody knows who I am. The most I get is gawks at my poké balls, but I'm sure as hell that no one knows, much less cares about my trainer status."

Quite true. Tessa prods Herald, but he swats her away like a pest. This is a lot to take in for me. "Then you-"

"Say, what's your name?" He holds a hand out.

I meet his gaze and shake his hand firmly. "Eryn. And she's Tessa."

"Eryn, are you a trainer? I can see fire in your and your toxicroak's eyes."

Unabashedly, I nod and feel my heart race. "We're aiming for Sinnoh's throne."

"Then I have an offer for you. I think you'll like it." He fishes something out from his pocket and presses it into my palm as if to hide it. "Take this and call it our little secret."

I examine what he gave me. It's a small black pager with only one button. "And this is?"

"I bet you haven't had a battle in a long time. I bet you're jonesing for a battle." He spreads his blazer like it's a trench coat and he's running a drug deal. Wow, and I thought I've seen it all. Wouldn't have taken him to be this much of a jokester.

If only he knew. "We've lived here for months and you couldn't be any more right."

"That's what sucks about living here, and why I booked it out of here as soon as I could. Battles make everything so much fun. Peaceful places like Reveriena are so boring and set in their ways. That's why I'm trying to change it."

"I'm guessing that's what this is for?" I dangle the pager before pocketing it safely.

"Yup. Sometime next week, when I get everything worked out, I'll send you an address and a time during the night through that thing. Go to that place at that time and you'll probably see a warehouse with a guy wearing a mask outside of it."

"Uh, this is for a battle, right?" Even I have to admit that this is getting pretty sketchy.

"Don't worry. If you go up to the guy and tell him my battle phrase, he'll let you in. And once inside, you'll have the time of your life in Reveriena." He winks and puts a finger to his lips to hush. "You do know what that phrase is, right?"

What he says before sending someone out? That's easy. "Step up, Sunshine." It's a great phrase since most of his pokémon have dark color schemes, and because it's also a taunt to his opponent.

"Then that's all I have to say. I'm gonna go scout out the location right now, so I'll see you then, Eryn." He walks away while holding a hand up for goodbye. "I'm sorry this meeting was a bit rushed. We'll talk more next we meet."

This is perfect. I just got invited to some battle thing by the Galar champion? Boy oh boy, is this surreal. And when Tessa wipes the floor with whoever we get matched with, maybe Dominic will offer us a battle with Herald.

Yet something yanks on my conscience now that my blood's going for battles: Dan. Poor guy, I don't think school's treating him all too well. He needs a battle in him. I'm damn sure that'll help him relax. So before Dominic leaves to wherever he's off to, I say, "Can I bring a friend?"

He turns around and gives a wry smile. "Sorry, we can't have everyone and their mother at the place. It's not a party. We can't afford to tip off any goody-goody rangers that'll probably shut our little club down for whatever little legal loophole they find."

Battles are shunned and taboo, yet not illegal in Reveriena. Makes the fact that we have to tiptoe about the subject all the more infuriating. "Got it. But do you know Dan Itou?"

He rattles off, "Semifinalist of the last Kanto League. Most notable, for me, is that he did an almost complete turnaround and beat four of his opponent's pokémon with his last guy Bo-fi. Pity he lost by a hair at the last minute. He would have won the whole tournament otherwise." Dominic nods satisfactorily. Again with that weird pronunciation of Bonfire.

"Yeah, him. He actually goes to my school and I really wanna see him in action. Would it be okay to bring him along?" I want to battle him too.

"School?" He crosses his arms and perks a brow. I flash him my capture styler, which was previously shoved inside my bag. "Oh. Ranger school? Seriously?"

Hey, I don't want to attend it either, but my parents already paid the tuition in full, so I'm not letting that go to waste. I have some pride, and a whole lot of respect for my folks. "Long story. But he's my classmate."

"Are you sure?" He scratches his head. "I could have sworn I saw him on TV after attempting the Kanto Elite Four gauntlet challenge like a couple days ago. Now he's a ranger school student?"

"That recent? School must have already been in session by then." Now I'm scratching my head. "I don't think he'd have time to jump to Kanto and be back for class just like that. Or would he?"

Dominic hesitates but ends up waving his hand. "You know what? I'll trust you on this. I really have to go now, but bring him if you think he's good to go. Just don't have any other tagalongs."

"Of course!"

With that, he and Herald take their leave. Now that is an experience to remember. I can't even put words together to describe it, but holy hot damn, I just met and befriended Dominic Viktor, who invited me to battle. My life is complete!


	7. First Request

Tessa croaking like no tomorrow wakes me up well before my alarm clock is set to. Then follows Ophelia, surprisingly, cawing her head off. When I finally wipe the sleep out of my eyes, I see my toxicroak lunging at the poor bird with claws readied. "Whoa, whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

A tube of pokémon food my parents sent rolls onto the ground from somewhere and I avoid stepping on it as I move to hold back Tessa. I just miss grabbing her arm and end up slipping up and falling face-first on the floor anyway. Ouch, but that doesn't matter. I'm not letting my idiot attack Julietta's partner for whatever stupid reason it could be.

"Tessa-" I stop myself when I see her winding up for a poison jab. "Dont you dare-"

Cutting me off is Ophelia. Her beak parts and out sprays a pressurized jet of water in self defense, not that I can blame her. But why did she have to use a water-type move?

In response, Tessa turns around and let's the water hit her back, which looks better than it usually does because of the spray Mom sent, but is still pretty rough. On contact, she soaks it in like a sponge. What little doesn't get absorbed drips down her body and puddles on the floorboards. I've seen other pokémon with dry skin, but Tessa takes the driest cake in regard to that.

"You jerk, cut it out!"

"Ophelia, what do you think you're doing?" Julietta flings the door open and shouts. At her partner's entrance, the cramorant skitters away from Tessa.

I hold Tessa back and try to come up with something to say. "I'm really sorry. I don't what got into her-"

"No, don't worry about it." Julietta takes two deep breaths before calming down. She holds Ophelia's beak closed. "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding between the two of them."

"Yeah." Totally not Tessa being a battle-hungry jerk this morning.

"I'm gonna go to class early. See you there." With that, she turns and exits the dorm, pulling her partner along.

There's like an hour before that happens, so I have no idea how she's going to entertain herself. "You know, you could have not done that, man."

Tessa sneers at me and punches my arm. She then throws her hands up in the air and lies down on my bed. She's not trying to convey what she's trying to tell me any more, so I assume that almost-battle was just a product of her antsyness for what Dominic promised us for next week.

"I'm gonna shower." Might as well since it's early. I grab a towel from my drawer and my toiletries bag. When I step out of the dorm, I make it halfway to the communal bathroom when I realize that there's a small crowd gathered near the stairwell. I double back and lend an ear to a girl who seems to be announcing something. "Has anyone seen my partner pokémon? He's a spinda with two spots on his left ear, and he has a white ribbon covered in swirls wrapped around it. And he walks with a limp."

Someone else asks, "Are you sure he's here?"

The girl hugs herself and chokes out, "He has to be. He disappeared when we were out for a walk around campus just before curfew yesterday, and I've looked everywhere for him. He couldn't have left the grounds. He's got to be here."

Some people whisper under their breath. I catch a girl standing near me saying, "Do you think it's an alien case?"

The hell is an alien case? Before I ask that out loud, the person this girl said that to says, "You mean when a pokémon gets abducted out of nowhere and is never seen again? You know, apparently some missing pokémon do reappear, but they're like brainwashed and attack their friend when they try to get close. Scary stuff. I haven't heard any incidents near Hionit, though."

"Me neither, but it says on the news that there have been more and more cases spreading through Reveriena. Maybe we're next. Man, I'm glad I haven't found my partner pokémon yet."

_That's _an alien case? I'd prefer actual aliens landing here in the middle of farm country in a UFO and drawing crop circles or whatever, not kidnapping pokémon! What perverted losers are behind this? My body reacts accordingly to this news and a lump rises in my throat, clogging the bile that threatens to come out. This thing just sounds sick.

The girl with the missing partner holds her head in her hands. "Please help me look! He has to be here."

"I feel bad for her. I wouldn't be surprised if this were an alien case," the girl who explained that jargon says.

Her friend replies, "Yeah. We should help her look anyway."

Wow, considerate much? Neither of those two have a partner by the looks of it. Can they seriously not even imagine what it's like to be in that girl's shoes, much less an alien case victim's? If Tessa were to disappear… No, she won't. I won't let her.

Someone calls out, "I'll check the roof."

Another girl says, "I'll scope out the first floor."

"I'll go with you."

"We'll take the third floor."

And so on. People break away from this mini-assembly in small groups and head to the locations they call dibs on. At least everyone has a heart. Deciding to help, I dash to the bathroom and wash up at the sinks, skipping the shower and instead rushing to help the spinda girl.

I run to my room where Tessa lazily rises from my bed and saunters over to me. I push her ahead. "Be on the lookout for a spinda." She waves me off like she already knows what I'm going to say. "Let's sweep the second floor and get Julietta to help too."

We race down the stairs without anything needing to be said. Tessa manages to

beat me by a mile because she doesn't even climb down any steps, just jumps over the banister and lands two floors down like nothing doing. We get it, big girl, you're cool.

"Where the heck can a spinda even go?" All I can do is pop my head into whatever room is unlocked. There are only classrooms on the second floor, so the garden is probably the best place to check out next with how big it is.

But that spinda girl hasn't found her partner yet since last night. Wouldn't he have just stumbled back to her dorm if he got separated from her? Or maybe have found another human to help reunite them? Alien case… I refuse to believe it's a thing, and I never want to be proven wrong about it. That spinda's probably just asleep somewhere on campus. Has to be.

"Tessa, where'd you go?" I swish my hand around at hip-level, trying to touch my toxicroak without looking at her since I'm whipping my head around trying to spot a spinda. When I don't feel her near me anymore, I pivot around in an instant and relax when I see her back. She's turned around and croaking real low as she stares off into the distance. Unsure of what she's looking at, I stand beside her and lean around, trying to see what she's seeing. And wow, it's a sight to behold.

Around a corner, I see an elbow poking out and shaking. Taking a few steps forward, Grayson comes in full view. He's leaning against the wall on quivering legs, one arm pressed against the wall for balance, the other clutching a book to his chest. His eyes are clamped shut and he's talking to himself. I oughta stay away from him after our last encounter, right?

That doesn't really matter since Tessa lets out a small cackle. Grayson flinches at the sound and ever so slowly peeks his head around the corner, eyes still closed. When he opens them, Tessa takes a small step forward and raises her arms like an angry ursaring. Realizing what she's doing, I grab her and yank her back. "What is wrong with you? Do you just feel like causing trouble this morning?"

Without exerting even a fraction of her strength, Tessa breaks free from my death grip on her arm and stomps. A yelp resounds from Grayson's direction. Here we go…

In an instant, Grayson flings himself away from the wall. Now he takes one look at Tessa for the longest second in the world. And then, his whole body shakes and the next thing I know, he's running down the nearby stairs and far away from us.

I whack Tessa on the head, hard. "You jerk, even I wouldn't do that!" As annoying as Grayson has proven himself to be, I'm not a complete sadist. Tessa is, sadly. For the most part, at least. I know from a multitude of experiences. "If this causes trouble, then-"

Tessa throws a hand up in my face to shush me. Since I don't know where Grayson's heading, I can't do much. Reluctantly, I grab her hand and drag her off to my classroom. She doesn't attempt to break away from my grasp, so hopefully that marks the end of today's craziness.

We make it to 2-A in a few strides. Surprisingly, Julietta isn't here. Her bag isn't slung over her seat, so I don't think she's even stepped inside here yet. I guess I'll just see her when class starts.

"We're going to check the garden now," I decide. "No more being a jerk today. Seriously. I'll return you if you do."

A threat that seems to always work, Tessa loses her sneer and matches my pace so I don't have to drag her along anymore. I haven't returned her for ages, and she really loves being outside. Understandably so, but she can't keep making messes like this! I don't want to return her either, even.

Because she doesn't dare try distracting me now, we waltz outside the school's back exit and find ourselves facing the garden in no time. A bunch of tall flower hedges in a maze formation catches my eye first. How I haven't noticed that thing earlier beats me. Adjacent to the maze is an empty pen for the wooloo with a small building that's probably their shelter from rain. Oughta check there as well.

"Over here." I pull Tessa along like she's a pouting child. She's done the same with me before, so I don't care about hurting her ego that much. I catch a whiff of really fragrant flowers that taunt me into sneezing. Forging ahead. I pull us into the hedge maze. Totally not excitedly, I might add. Not like I've never been in a maze before and want to check this out. I mean, even I'm not that immature…

"Surprisingly big," I note as I step inside. It covers as much land as the wooloo pen does by my guesstimate, which is a lot. "Here, uh…" Should have asked that girl what her spinda's name is. This got a little harder. "Anyone here? Hello!" I bellow. I venture deeper into the maze and can't help feeling a little disappointed. Yeah, exploring this place isn't as exciting as I hoped it would be. It's pretty quiet too. And it's just green and flowers. "Anyone he—Gah!"

Before I know it, Tessa yanks me back and lets me fall onto a shrub. She treads ahead with light footsteps and peers around a corner. I slowly catch up to her while grumbling, but shut up once she holds a hand up at me. "What warranted that?"

Following her gaze and opening my ears gives me my answer. Something caws, then someone says, "I'm sorry for ranting at you, but I thought we went over this a million times. No more hostility. I never want to see a battle ever again. I forbid you from getting into any more messes, Ophelia. That goes for Anemi too, so pass the message on."

It's Julietta and her cramorant. For whatever reason, they're having a conversation in the middle of this maze. More like a lecture if I'm hearing my roommate right. Ophelia's a punk? Naw. Okay, let's walk away and forget what we saw. Even I know boundaries. "That wasn't what we were looking for, Tessa. A spinda, not our friends," I hiss.

"A spinda what?"

"Holy-" I flinch away and almost fall into a bush again, but Julietta manages to catch my hand and balance me. When did she get here? When I meet her gaze, I can just tell that she doesn't want to address what I just witnessed. Or maybe she's praying that I didn't hear it at all. So, I just act dumb and say, "Someone's spinda is lost, so I'm helping her look."

"Really? I'll help too." Without waiting for anything, Julietta walks ahead. Ophelia waddles after her and I follow. "Is that why you're here?"

"Yeah," I hum. "But I think this place is a bust. Unless you've noticed anything?"

She walks on while hugging herself. "No, all's been quiet in the maze. I just came here to be alone with Ophelia." Don't press her on that, me. "Where could they have gone?"

We step outside of the maze in time to see a teacher at the gate to the wooloo pen. She's pulling at her hair while biting her nails. I move my arms like I'm jogging and say, "Let's see if she's okay."

Julietta grunts in agreement and we swiftly make our way to the frazzled teacher. When I get close enough, I recognize her as the Gardening Club advisor. Since she seems troubled and since we probably need her permission to check inside the shelter building, I ask, "Is everything alright?"

A trio of guys that happen to be passing by, one being Wyatt, pull up from behind and lend an ear with us. They're probably also searching for the spinda; I heard people spreading the word back in the school building. Wyatt asks, "Do you need help?"

The teacher calms down a little and takes a deep breath. "Yes, please. I forgot the keys to the pen in the faculty lounge and am waiting for someone to deliver it to me. Can I ask you all to hop the fence and go inside the shelter and check on the wooloo?"

One of the guys with Wyatt says, "No problem, but why?" Well, she's an older woman for one thing. And she's wearing a long pencil skirt. Oh wait, he meant why we're going at all, not why she isn't doing it herself.

"The wooloo only ever take shelter in there when it rains. Last night was clear skies, so there's no reason for them all to not be outside on the grass. I'm worried about them, so please have a look."

Julietta squeaks out, "Are you sure they're not in the other pen?"

The teacher replies, "I am. The other one is being cleaned right now."

This is getting a little unsettling. Either someone kidnapped all the wooloo or something bad happened to them that made them stay in there, both of which are bad. So, I waste no time in jumping over the pen fence. The other guys and Tessa follow no problem, but Julietta takes her time to safety get over with shaking arms and legs. I guess it's a pretty high drop if she is to slip, so I offer her my hand and guide her down.

When I get ready to dash to the shelter, Wyatt comes out with a pale face. He shouts, "Get help, now!"

His voice carries over yards of distance and a whistling wind clearly. My heart sinks at the desperation in his cry, and before I know it, I'm running over to him.

"What happened?" Through wheezes and pants, I try to push Wyatt out of the doorway where he stands like a hurdle.

One of the guys inside says, "Oh my god, who did this?"

Besides the guys inside mumbling other expressions of shock and disturbance**, **it's completely silent. Nary a bleat to be heard. Inside it's dimly lit. All I can see are mounds of mass lying on the ground, unmoving. A lifeless and gray aura leaks from this place.

"I can't see anything." My eyes haven't adjusted to the darkness yet**. **But in this case, I think it might be better for my heart if I can't see anything. I mean, what could this situation possibly be? I'm already assuming the worst.

"I'll check for a light switch," Wyatt announces.

A few harsh blinks later, I can finally just make out the scene before me. Dozens of wooloo lie collapsed on the ground unmoving. The two guys try their best to wake up a couple of the sleeping pokémon. I bend down and run my hand over the fluffy hide of the wooloo nearest to me. He's warm, and I can feel his body ever so slightly moving up and down in small breaths.

"Rise and shine," I try to sing, but it gets caught in my throat. It's then that I notice this huge welt on this pokémon's face. It's a warm lump that's really hard to ignore now that I've found it. A couple of hot, trembling hands place themselves on my back. A familiar honk resounding nearby means it's Julietta.

"What happened?" She removes one hand from me and covers her mouth.

"I think they were attacked." My words drop out of without much thought or tact. I mean, what else could this be? "Guys, are any of the others injured?"

Immediately, the two grunt in affirmation. One says, "Like someone pummeled them. Bunch of bruises and swollen patches, even dents in their wool."

The light from outside shines on a couple of wooloo huddled together. One in particular catches my eye because something's wrapped around a braid of wool hanging by their face. I slowly stand and approach this one, but stop when I hear a hiss.

"Shit," Wyatt cusses, clutching his arm to his stomach.

"What?" his friend asks.

"Aw, there's a bunch of splintered wood planks sticking out of the walls. I scraped my forearm, but it's not too bad." His voice keeps trembling. Despite what he says, I can clearly tell he's trying his best not to swear again. "Be careful, guys."

"Have you found the lights?" Julietta meekly asks.

"Yeah, I think I see the switch. Is help coming?" Light from outside hits him just right that I can see his actions. He shoves his hand into his uniform pocket and grimaces before pasting on a smile. Why is the light switch not at the door? Horrible design.

"That teacher ran to find someone." A whine comes from Julietta as she cuddles with a motionless wooloo.

This whole situation is too surreal. This school is pretty fancy, so who the hell managed to get in here and do _this_ little stunt? A student, or some cunning ne'er-do-well? God, I want to punch them right in the face. Biting my lip, I near the wooloo with something around their wool.

Just as I get ready to lean down, Wyatt announces, "Let there be light!"

Next thing I know, I'm blinded. Bright orange lamps that hang from the ceiling switch on and fill the room, completely changing the tone. I force a few more harsh blinks while squinting to get a better look at what this wooloo has on. Eventually, I make out a ribbon tangled in his wool. But before I can even reach out for it, a resounding, discordant symphony of bleats fill the air.

Every wooloo stands in an instant. Before any of us can react, one of them rolls forth at breakneck speed, colliding with the walls of the place several times before finally taking aim at Julietta. She stands in the doorway completely frozen. The damage from his impacts is startling. He crashes splintered holes and dents into the thick wood walls and shakes the establishment with every hit. There are already countless indents in the walls just like that except bigger, now that I can see. And shortly after, all the other wooloo copy him. It feels like an earthquake is happening.

If she gets hit by him, much less a whole stampede of them...

"Julietta, watch out! I shout in unison with Wyatt.

I screech, "Tessa, help her!" But she's not close or fast enough to make it.

"No!" Julietta shrieks as I see her hurtling my way. I hold my arms up to catch her in time to see a flood of wooloo roll out the door en masse. When the last one exits, I let go of my roommate. From Ophelia panting in the corner, I can safely guess that she pushed Julietta out of the way.

"Is everyone good?" one guy asks.

"Sure," I say unconvincingly.

Wyatt claps his hands to get our attention. "Talk later. We need to help calm down the wooloo."

Indeed. But how? Everyone makes their way to the exit as I catch my breath.

"Capture on!" Wyatt shouts when I realize that I'm the only one still in the shelter building along with Tessa. Even Julietta left me.

"Right, that's how," I mutter as I pull my styler out of my pocket.

Outside, complete madness enraptures the field inside the pen. The wooloo are rolling and bleating like their lives depend on it. They're going so fast and bounce off of whatever they hit like a billiard ball with maximum elasticity. Each time one hits the fence, they ricochet away and make the wood bend outwards. If we don't stop this soon, they'll be able to break out and cause a mess all over campus.

"Tessa, don't even." I don't move until she croaks in agreement. "If one comes at you, catch them. Don't you dare use an attack." They're already hurt. They don't need any further damage.

Everyone else is whipping their stylers around trying to capture the rampant wooloo. Poor Julietta has one circling around her, trapping her until she captures it. I set my sights on a wooloo that's rolling right at me. What Mr. Spurr asked of me at club echoes in my head now that I'm readying myself for a capture. The matter at hand is more important than my ranger ideals, so I take a deep breath before saying, "Capture on."

My disk shoots in front of my target wooloo, right in his projected rolling path. I can finish a loop before he breaks the line, no problem. So I throw my arm left, but before my disk's path even begins to curve, the wooloo charges straight through the capture line and causes my disk to fall. He's not attacking it, but this somehow feels more annoying than that. "Damn it."

I run and pick my disk up, but drop it back down when my wooloo crashes into the shelter building wall. Tessa stands back and just watches, but I can't come up with a way she can help without attacking. I know partner pokémon lend their moves to aid captures, but Tessa attacks viciously.

"No, please just hold still!" My wooloo rebounds off the surface and shoots back even faster than before. "How am I supposed to capture him now?"

Reluctantly, I chase after him, wagging my styler in the air as I close the distance. He's slowing down, so I manage to keep up with his rolling at a moderate sprint. Okay, here we go. I launch my disk again and try to keep my breath even.

It takes a few seconds extra waiting for the disk to outrun him, which is tiresome, but with reluctant patience, I manage to close the first loop around him. At this, he slows down some more and moves his head to look at his surroundings. You're supposed to put your heart into your capture like you're extending your hand to a friend. That's one of the few things I absorbed from one of Mr. Spurr's lectures. Well, I can do the friend part.

"Please slow down some more," I pant out. Running is no problem. Doing a basic capture isn't too bad. Together? Cut me some slack. "Let me help you."

Something has these wooloo scared out of their wits that they're rolling around mad like this, and I have a feeling it has to do with why they were all collapsed inside their shelter injured. Baring my teeth and with sheer tenacity fueled by not wanting to embarrass myself in front of the others, I complete two more loops. This wooloo has decelerated to a crawl that is still rolling away from me. "Attaboy."

I easily draw two more loops around him, and finally he comes to a complete halt. Sweet. I approach him with my hands up and slowly move to pet him. At my touch, he bleats calmly and trots in a circle around me. This is a nice feeling. "I'm glad you're good now."

Another wooloo collides into the fencing right behind me immediately after saying that. When I look around, everyone's still capturing. I usher the wooloo I just caught back into the shelter so that no other one runs into him for now as I stare at Wyatt. And hot damn, am I actually impressed. Yeah, he's way better than I'll ever be.

A small flock of five wooloo are rolling back and forth together out of sync, and Wyatt's just capturing them. Like, as they move without moving himself other than his arm, his disk circles the group perfectly. I didn't know you could capture more than one pokémon like that. Wow, he doesn't even look like he's trying that hard. His face is relaxed too.

Damn, hopefully nobody saw my wooloo chase. But that doesn't really matter right now. Every one of these rolling rascals is still full of steam, charging ever faster. One of them's gonna get hurt more like this. "Next up is you." I take aim at the nearest one and fire. "Oh, don't you run, too!" I plead as he starts charging forward. "Tessa, block him."

Ever stalwart when faced with a challenge, Tessa takes one giant leap and lands right in this wooloo's tracks. She has her arms up to keep him stopped. Good, just don't attack him. Not wasting any time, I begin another capture.

My capture count goes up to two thanks to my toxicroak. I wonder how many everyone else has calmed down. There are 50 wooloo total, and I'd say 20 are still shooting around the pen right now. Wyatt's wrangling a trio into the shelter. Wonder if he caught the majority of the flock himself. There are five of us, so everyone should be expected to capture ten. I need to step on it.

It feels like I found my groove, so I point at another wooloo for Tessa to halt. She ends up picking the poor little one up and holding her there until I finish my work. Sorry, but this kind of is literally for your own good.

"Three," I count aloud once I finish. "Okay, who's ne—Ah, shit!"

Something slams into the back of my legs and sends me flying from the force. The wooloo I just captured rolls in time to act as a cushion for when I fall. I kiss fuzzy wool and end up letting Tessa yank me back on my feet. To both of them, I say, "Thank you."

It doesn't take much effort to spot the culprit of my assault: another wooloo. But this time, it's the one with something wrapped around his braid. Whatever, this'll be a capture just the same as my prior ones. "Tessa, I could use your assistance again." Sweat drips from my face. It's too early for this. But, I have to keep pushing through for the sake of the wooloo. I point my styler at my new target and steady my aim. "Uh, Tessa?"

This wooloo rolls out of the way in time to avoid being grabbed by my toxicroak. Tessa dives in to pin him down, but every attempt yields her a face fill of dirt. Wow, this guy is a lucky little thing. "Forget it, back off. I can do this alone."

Reluctantly, Tessa follows through. But it seems as though our new friend doesn't want to make things easier for either of us. Just as Tessa turns to walk away, the wooloo charges at her and slams into her back. With the excellent reflexes she's honed over the years in preparation for the journey we've yet to start, Tessa recovers immediately and drives a forceful hand into his side, sending him a few feet up in the air.

"Whoa, tone it down! Don't hurt him!"

Useless. She pretends to not hear me and instead tangles with him in a weird wrestling match. Surprisingly, the wooloo seems to have the upper hand when he furls and unfurls with force at sporadic intervals that stun Tessa and leave her open to the odd strike or two.

"I don't believe you're losing!" is my first outcry. I have never seen such a strangely one-sided battle like this, all because Tessa allows herself to get tricked by this wooloo and is deciding to blindly flail in hopes of landing a good hit. She never was good at patience and strategy. I was… slightly better than her in that respect. Just slightly. "Fine, whatever, just distract him."

They're tumbling on the ground at this point, so I choose to take advantage of this little distraction. I draw loops around the two, and thankfully they're more or less staying in the same spot the entire time. The display on my styler shows information for two captures, so that must mean I'm capturing Tessa as well. Okay, hopefully that doesn't earn me a punch from her or anything.

No matter. I call my disk back once I see neither of them struggling against the other. They separate once I start approaching them, and Tessa just stares at me innocently and politely as she loudly catches her breath. Okay, that's kind of disturbing, so I lightly smack her upside the head. Instantaneously, she jumps up and puts on her usual airs. Wow, capturing really does have a powerful effect if it did that to her of all pokémon.

Ignoring Tessa, I kneel beside the wooloo and reach out for his braid. He lowers himself to help me and I quickly unwrap the ribbon from him. I pat him on the back as a signal that he can go now.

Before I get to inspect the ribbon further, Mr. Spurr suddenly calls out from a distance, "Are you all okay?"

I whip my head around and try to pinpoint his location. He's running to us at mach speed from the school. I take a moment to glance around and only then realize how quiet things are now. Yeah, no more wooloo are bouncing off the pen walls and making a mess. So all 50 were captured. I helped with four…

Mr. Spurr hops the fence and lands in front of me. Everyone gathers around him. He asks, "What happened?"

Wyatt speaks up first. "Something set off the wooloo. We went inside their shelter and when the lights turned on, they practically stampeded out the exit and tried to break out of the pen."

"They're all injured, too." Julietta wrings her hands together.

Mr. Spurr slowly smiles. "Well, I'm glad you all took initiative and helped diffuse the situation. I only caught a glimpse at the end, but you all did a great job. Other instructors will check on the wooloo now, so you should all get to class before the bell." He pauses for a moment. "But before that, let me distribute points to each of you. The teacher you helped decided to make this a formal request, so you should all be rewarded as such. I'll distribute the points on her behalf, and process your captures as well."

Oh, I almost forgot about the points system, to be honest. I'm still sitting on zero, so there's that. The two guys that are with Wyatt line up first and hand their stylers over to Mr. Spurr. Julietta stands close behind them.

Since I don't care that much, I linger behind and instead stare at the ribbon I took from that wooloo. It's cream-colored and covered in wool fluff. Upon closer inspection, there's some design on it. Orange swirl marks. That's familiar…

"Isn't that…?" Wyatt leads on, leaning in front of me to get a look himself.

"I think it is," I slowly say. "That girl that lost her spinda…"

"This can't be good."

"Yeah." I gulp. So where was the spinda? Why was the ribbon around an injured wooloo? Trying my best to be optimistic despite how kind of scary this has become, I shift the subject. Recalling his yelp from earlier, I glance down then exclaim, "Holy shit, you're not alright."

I flinch away from him, a huge gash on his forearm glistening under the sun. Clearly not a small scrape like he played it out to be back in the shelter. Despite the blood still dripping down his arm, he laughs and hides it behind his back. "It's shallow and not that bad. It doesn't hurt, so don't worry about it, really. I've experienced worse."

Man, good thing we don't have the capture styler model that's strapped to our wrists, or else Wyatt's would be stained red. "You say that, but-"

"Wyatt, Eryn?" Mr. Spurr motions for us to step up. The two guys that were here are already walking back to the school building, and Julietta's waiting on me outside the pen.

I push Wyatt on the back. "You go first. Then go to the nurse or something to help with that, dude."

"Thanks. You talk to that girl with the spinda, alright?" He smiles graciously and holds his styler out while hiding his injury behind his back. Over his shoulder, I catch a glimpse of his stats page on the screen, which displays his capture log and point count. And to my big surprise, it's completely blank. His point count is a fat zero, just like mine.

But he's like a ranger prodigy, isn't he? Like everyone compliments him. Why wouldn't he be capturing and completing requests left and right like the good student he seems to be would? I thought he'd be Rank 1. It'd be easy for him. At least I'm not too lonely at Student Rank 300, I suppose.

After Mr. Spurr takes Wyatt's styler, he perks an eyebrow before punching the touch screen with his finger. Wyatt definitely caught more wooloo than me, so I guess I'm still the worst-ranking student.

When Wyatt walks off, I clutch the ribbon tightly in one hand and approach Mr. Spurr holding my styler out at him. He takes it and does the same as he did with the others before. "You did good today, Eryn."

"What happened to the wooloo?" A lot of people carrying first aid kits and food went into the shelter, I saw earlier.

Mr. Spurr pauses for a second before handing my styler back to me. "We'll do our best to get to the bottom of this, I promise."

Not the most reassuring thing to hear, but I guess there really isn't anything else he can say. I glance at my stats screen and see that, despite gaining a nice 2,000 points, I'm still Rank 300.

"You and Julietta get to class now. I'll be there shortly."

He walks past me toward the shelter. I meet back up with Julietta and we wordlessly head back to the school building. Wyatt's points are no longer a subject of my worries as I hold the ribbon in front of me. We found it in the wooloo shelter that was full of destruction and beat-up wooloo, wrapped around one's braid. Of all the possible ways that could happen that I can come up with, none are good.

Julietta and I part ways at our classroom. I head to the fourth floor to find the spinda girl. She sits on the floor beside the stairs, so I don't have to go far to find her. Her face is buried in her arms wrapped around her knees, but she looks up once I step in front of her.

Why am I the one stuck doing this? Words don't fall out of my mouth that easily, so I just slowly hold the ribbon out to her. And she bursts into tears that I have no way of stopping.


End file.
